About Father Bill Keown, Our Pastor

July 1, 2024

Fr. Bill was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore by Archbishop William Lori at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on June 23, 2018. A native of Kentucky, Fr. Bill served 20 years in the US Navy as a translator of Russian and Arabic languages. His assignments included duty aboard surface ships, submarines, and aircraft with tours in Japan, Bahrain, California, Georgia, Maryland, and Tennessee. His military career brought him to Maryland in 2007, and it was here that he began discerning the call to priesthood after his retirement from the Navy in 2009.

As a seminarian, he served in the parish communities of St. Paul in Ellicott City, the Catholic Community of South Baltimore, the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, St. Ignatius in Hickory, St. Philip Neri in Linthicum, Our Lady of the Fields in Millersville, the Baltimore Basilica, and he served his deacon year at St. Margaret in Bel Air. He attended seminary at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore where he received his Master of Divinity (MDiv) and Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB) degrees.

Fr. Bill’s first assignment was as an associate pastor in the pastorate of St. Louis Parish in Clarksville and St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Fulton. Archbishop Lori appointed Fr. Bill as Pastor of Our Lady of Victory and Catholic Chaplain to UMBC on February 15, 2020.

While serving as pastor of Our Lady of Victory in July 2022, Fr. Bill was appointed to serve as the Director of Deacon Formation for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He continued to serve in this role until May 2025.

In July 2024, Archbishop Lori appointed Fr. Bill as pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Garrett County.