The seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Covington. Richard H. Ackerman was born on August 30, 1903 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The future bishop graduated from Duquesne University High School in 1920 and in that same year, entered the Duquesne University School of Drama. Feeling a call to the religious life, Ackerman entered the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in 1921 and made his religious profession at Ridgefield, Connecticut on August 15, 1922. He was ordained to the priesthood on August 28, 1926 at St. Mary Seminary, Norwalk, Connecticut by the Most Rev. Maurice F. McAuliffe, Auxiliary Bishop of Hartford.
From 1926 to 1940, Ackerman served in the following positions: Master of novices of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, assistant pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Pittsburgh, assistant to the national director of the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood, assistant professor of Philosophy at St. Mary Seminary in Norwalk, and assistant pastor at St. Mary Parish in Detroit, Michigan. In 1941, he was named director of the Holy Childhood Association, and in 1947 was named the vice president of the association’s superior council. At the time of his silver jubilee of ordination in 1951, Ackerman was presented with the Grand Cross “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice,” by Pope Pius XII. In 1956, Father Ackerman was appointed the first Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego, California and Titular Bishop of Lares. He was consecrated on May 22, 1956, by Bishop John F. Deardon of Pittsburgh at St. Paul Cathedral. Bishop Ackerman was installed at San Diego on May 23, 1956.
He was appointed seventh Bishop of Covington on April 6, 1960 and was installed at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington on May 17, 1960. At the age of 75, Bishop Ackerman resigned as Bishop of Covington and was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese until the appointment of Bishop William A. Hughes in 1979. Bishop Ackerman died on November 18, 1992 and was laid to rest at St. Mary Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.
Archives of the Diocese of Covington.
