2026 Honorees

Archbishop John C. Wester

John C. Wester, the son of Charles and Helen Wester, is a fourth generation San Franciscan born on November 5, 1950. He attended the San Francisco archdiocesan minor and major seminaries for twelve years and was ordained a priest on May 15, 1976. He served for thirty years in the Archdiocese in parish ministry, high school ministry, and archdiocesan administration. In 1998 he was ordained auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese where he continued to serve for almost nine years. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as bishop of the Catholic diocese of Salt Lake City where he served for eight years. In 2015, Pope Francis appointed him to his present position as archbishop of Santa Fe.

Archbishop Wester has been a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for almost twenty-eight years. During that time, he has served as chairman of the Committee on Migration, chairman of the Communications Committee, and member of numerous other committees. He has also served as a member of the board of Catholic Relief Services, Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, among others.

He is currently the episcopal moderator of the National Association of Lay Ministers (NALM) and the episcopal consultant to the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP). In January of 2022, he issued the pastoral letter "Living in the Light of Christ's Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament." He joined with Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle, Archbishop Nakamura of Nagasaki and Bishop Shirahama of Hiroshima in forming the "Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons." He is currently working on a pastoral letter to honor the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi in which he will highlight the gift of water and the call of the late Pope Francis to care for the earth, our common home. He holds that nuclear weapons are the greatest threat to human life and civilization and he joins his voice to those who advocate for the support of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.