Bio for Wes Seeliger

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.” That man for the Foundation for Contemporary Theology was Wes Seeliger, and being 6’4″, he cast a long shadow.

Wes Seeliger was born in 1938 in Lockhart, Texas, where he lived until he went to college. He and his family were regular attendees at the local Methodist Church. His attraction to the church began early, especially as he realized he did not think like the rest of his family or even his peer group. His thoughts were always on the God-dimension of life, even as he progressed through puberty and finally graduated from Lockhart High School.

Wes and his sister were the only ones in the immediate family to go to college. His interest in studying blossomed in college. He began in San Marcos at Southwest Texas, progressing to North Texas in Denton, and eventually ending up at the University of Texas in Austin, where he had always wanted to be. He became a part of the Faith and Life Community under the leadership of Joseph Mathews, a theologian. It had strict disciplines which he found challenging, but it also opened him to the prominent progressive theologians of the time in the context of intimate meals. That opportunity was the seed for his going into the ministry. He went to Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, to study for the Methodist ministry. In his final year, he had a change of heart and went to the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Dallas. Although he graduated from SMU, he became an ordained Episcopal priest. He was assigned initially to St.Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station, ministering to the Texas A&M students. Being an ardent University of Texas fan, he felt the challenge that A&M gave him—especially when speaking out against the Vietnam War!

Subsequent assignments took him to churches where he felt the Bishop thought he could do the least harm. Never losing his prophetic voice, he spoke as he was led wherever he was led. His voice has been heard since 1976 through his self cartoon-illustrated books, One Inch from the Fence, a book of modern parables, and Western Theology, a book about a life of pioneer faith versus a life of settler faith. Western Theology became his way of introducing himself and his progressive theology to the world. In 1977 he was divorced from his first wife, while serving at the Church of the Advent in the Garden Villas area of Houston. He felt compelled to leave the church and tried the insurance business and a variety of creative jobs. His cartooning ability offered some choices, but never enough money to live on. In 1978 he met Ruth Seeliger, who became his second wife in 1982. The Church of the Advent invited him back on a part-time basis, which he accepted. While serving there the second time, he started the Foundation for Contemporary Theology in 1987. In 1995 the new Bishop offered him a one-year interim assignment as rector at St. Francis Episcopal in the Memorial area of Houston. That was the turning point, as progressive members there began to support his approach to the problems he found in Christianity and to raise money for the Foundation. When the year was over, he went full-time with the Foundation with the support of his wife.

From a shaky beginning with about twenty-five people, the Foundation grew, but he was concerned that no one else seemed to have his vision for the future. Bishop John Shelby Spong was his model in many ways, as well as his mentor and ecclesiastical spiritual support personally and for the Foundation. His concern that he was not being heard led him to a great deal of discouragement, but he kept going. His social concerns kept him in the middle of political events, the gay pride parades, letters to ministers and politicians and speaking wherever he was invited—always feeling he had not done enough and that most people didn’t “get it”.

In 1999 he was diagnosed with urothelial cancer, a rare disease. Projected prognosis was thirteen months. He made it through eight months enduring the rigors of chemotherapy, blood clots and eventually a massive hemorrhage to the brain. He died May 2, 2000. He was 62 years old. His legacy, however, lives on in the Foundation and in the lives of those he touched. He is very much alive in us today. He said God needed him. We all did.