By John Rohlf, The Message assistant editor
Leading up to the Aug. 8 permanent diaconate ordination, Deacon Doug Ackerman said it was “hard to grasp and comprehend” being an ordained minister of the Catholic Church.
Deacon Ackerman was one of 16 men ordained to the permanent diaconate during the Rite of Ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacon at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville. Deacon Ackerman is assigned to Precious Blood Parish in Jasper, one of two deacons in the 2026 class to be assigned to Precious Blood.
Deacon Ackerman grew up in the Jasper area, and lived on a family farm between Jasper and Huntingburg growing up. He was “born and raised Catholic” and attended Precious Blood Parish in Jasper.
“Early in life, just felt a call to go to church and to learn more about the church and the teachings of the church,” Deacon Ackerman said. “And to pretty well do what mom and dad told you to do.”
After high school, Deacon Ackerman went into the military. While serving in the military, Deacon Ackerman said he served as a Eucharistic minister and helped in the chapel areas.
When he got out of the military, he returned to Jasper and really got involved with the parish. This is when Deacon Ackerman said he “felt a little tug at things.” It was not so much for the diaconate, he said, but just other ministries within the parish.
“The more I served the parish, I felt a little more of a tug,” Deacon Ackerman said. “Just wasn’t sure what it was. Just went through a lot of discernment on that. Just couldn’t really figure it out until I retired… And then it was like okay, what am I going to do with the rest of my life now? And lo and behold, the Lord had something in store for me. He said check this out. See if it’s for you. So that’s what started my discernment.”
Deacon Ackerman said he also got involved in the Exodus 90 program, which is for men’s spiritual enrichment. Deacon Ackerman said the program helped him to be able to hear the Lord’s call.
“Before, with all the noise in the world and everything around me, I didn’t hear the Lord’s call too much,” Deacon Ackerman said. “I was doing what I thought I should do. But through Exodus 90, I was able to really through prayer, asceticism and fraternity, better hear the Lord’s call and discern it and actually follow through with it.”
Deacon Ackerman credits the Exodus 90 program for bringing him to the point where he could hear a call to discern the diaconate.
Through the four years of preparation for the permanent diaconate, Deacon Ackerman said he grew more coming to know the Lord, serve the Lord and hear him.
“Throughout the whole four years, I felt the Lord’s love like I never have before,” Deacon Ackerman said. “I came to know him as my personal Lord and savior. And that made all the difference in the world because I felt his unconditional love for me. And because of that, I started to love God in return. It was a natural response to his love for me. And through that, I was able to serve him better from the heart.”
As the four year academic program went along, Deacon Ackerman said he could feel the call to the diaconate stronger and stronger.
Deacon Ackerman said throughout the four years of preparation, the men who were ordained to the permanent diaconate in August formed a very tight unity of fraternity. He noted the diversity of the group, which he thinks enhanced the learning process.
“Having all these opinions about things and all these understandings of things, and hearing all their experiences with God and God’s love for them, that really helped a lot through the whole process. So we were very blessed to have the group that we have.”
In a July 6 interview leading up to ordination, Deacon Ackerman said it “was starting to set in” and become more real for him now. He said the closer he got to ordination, the big step of ordination became more real.
“That’s just hard to grasp and comprehend,” Deacon Ackerman said in July. “But it’s coming. I feel it and it’s getting better and it feels good. And I can feel the love and warmth of Christ in it.”