Fr. Charles Kieffer serves as the Vicar for Synodality and Planning for the Diocese of Phoenix.
Charles Carroll George Kieffer was born on April 3, 1954, in Washington, D.C. to Charles Carroll Kieffer and Joan Helen Southern. He attended Catholic elementary and high schools in Washington D.C. before graduating cum laude from the University of Scranton with Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and philosophy in 1976. He achieved a Masters of Arts in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America in 1979. He was ordained a deacon and incardinated into the Diocese of Phoenix on November 14, 1979, at the Catholic University of America and ordained a priest on June 7, 1980, at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.
Appointments in the Diocese of Phoenix:
- 1980-85: Associate Pastor and Bishop’s Liaison for Liturgy, Ss. Simon & Jude Cathedral, Phoenix
- 1983: Appointed Advocate and Defender of the Bond, Diocese of Phoenix Tribunal
- 1985-91: Director of Vocations and Seminarians, Diocese of Phoenix
- 1991-2020: Pastor, St. Theresa Parish & School, Phoenix, AZ
- 1995-2004: Member, Presbyteral Council
- 1995-2004: Member, College of Consultors
- 1997-2000: Member, Priest Personnel Board
- 1998-2000: Chair, Priest Personnel Board
- 2000-2003: Chair, Bishop’s Task Force for Ministry with LGBT Catholics
- 2018- present: Member, Presbyteral Council
- 2004 – present: Judge, Diocese of Phoenix Tribunal
- 2005 – 2015: Dean, Central Phoenix Deanery
- 2009 – 2011: Canonical Pastor, St. Mark Parish & St. Philip the Deacon Mission, Phoenix, AZ
- 2020- present: Assisting Priest, St Bernard of Clairvaux Parish (Scottsdale) and Ascension Parish, (Fountain Hills)
- Jan. 1, 2023: Vicar for Synodality and Planning – Diocese of Phoenix