John Charles Wester
John Charles Wester was born November 5, 1950, in San Francisco, California. He was educated at St. Joseph's College Seminary in Mountain View and St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park (M.Div., 1976), and later took a Master of Applied Science from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Spiritual Theology from Holy Names College, Oakland. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco on May 15, 1976.
Pope John Paul II named him a titular bishop and auxiliary of San Francisco on June 30, 1998; he was consecrated September 18, 1998. On January 8, 2007, Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Salt Lake City (installed March 14, 2007). On April 27, 2015, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico; he was installed June 4, 2015, succeeding Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan.
As Archbishop of Santa Fe, Wester led the archdiocese through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy driven by abuse claims and became one of the most publicly progressive prelates in the U.S. hierarchy, known for a landmark 2022 pastoral letter on nuclear disarmament, vocal advocacy for immigrants, and outreach to LGBTQ Catholics. He turned 75 on November 5, 2025, and submitted his resignation to Pope Leo XIV in November 2025. As of mid-2026 he remains the sitting Archbishop of Santa Fe, continuing to govern until a successor is named.
On the specific question of the Traditional Latin Mass under Traditionis Custodes (July 16, 2021), Archbishop Wester's deeds are notably milder than his progressive reputation would predict. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe issued no publicized harsh restriction, no dramatic suppression, and no expulsion order comparable to the crackdowns in some other U.S. dioceses. The archdiocese has no FSSP or ICKSP apostolate to move against; the only society presence is an independent SSPX chapel in Albuquerque, outside the archbishop's jurisdiction. The diocesan Traditional Latin Mass at San Ignacio Catholic Church in Albuquerque has continued uninterrupted as a Sunday Sung Mass, and remains active as of July 2026.
The picture is not wholly positive. The Latin Mass formerly offered at the historic San Miguel Chapel in Santa Fe (celebrated ad orientem) appears to have ceased within the Traditionis Custodes window; San Miguel, however, is a historic/museum chapel rather than a parish, so this is a weaker data point than a parish suppression would be. There is no public evidence of Wester imposing altar-rail bans, reversing ad orientem where it existed, or issuing sacrament-form restrictions. The net effect: the TLM was contained to a single diocesan center rather than expanded, but it was preserved, not extinguished.
Assessed strictly by deeds: Archbishop Wester is a doctrinal and pastoral progressive whose public priorities (nuclear disarmament, LGBTQ accompaniment, synodality) place him at the opposite pole from the traditionalist movement, and traditional Catholics rightly regard his ethos as unsympathetic. Yet on the concrete governance of the old Mass he has been comparatively restrained, allowing a diocesan TLM to persist in good standing through mid-2026 without visible persecution. He is therefore best characterized as mixed: no ally in conviction or emphasis, but not among the bishops who used Traditionis Custodes to abolish the ancient rite. With his resignation pending before Pope Leo XIV, the future of the TLM in Santa Fe will likely turn on his successor.