Martin Seeley

Martin Alan Seeley (born 29 May 1954) is a British Church of England bishop. Since May 2015, he has been the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. From 2006 to 2015, he was the Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge.

Seeley was born in Portsmouth on 29 May 1954. He studied at Jesus College, Cambridge. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1976 and a Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree in 1978. In 1976, he entered Ripon College Cuddesdon to study for ordained ministry. He then attended Union Theological Seminary, New York City, from which he graduated with a Master of Sacred Theology (STM) degree in 1978. On 16 October 2018 he receive the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, New Haven, where he was also invited to deliver the 2018 Cheney Lecture.

Seeley was ordained in the Church of England: made a deacon at Michaelmas 1978 (24 September), by David Tustin, Bishop of Grimsby, at St Paul's Ashby, and as a priest the Michaelmas following (30 September 1979), by Simon Phipps, Bishop of Lincoln, at Lincoln Cathedral. His first appointment was as a curate at St Peter's Church, Bottesford, Lincolnshire (1978–1980).

In 1980, Seeley returned to the United States where he was a curate at the Church of the Epiphany and Assistant Director of Trinity Church, Manhattan, New York City (1980–1985) and then Executive Director of the Thompson Center, an ecumenical lay and clergy education programme in St Louis, Missouri (1985–1990).

In 1990, Seeley returned to England where he was a selection secretary at the Advisory Board of Ministry and secretary for Continuing Ministerial Education (1990–1996). From 1996 to 2006, he was the vicar of the Isle of Dogs, a parish in the Diocese of London. In September 2006, he was appointed Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, a theological college in the Liberal Catholic tradition of the Church of England. In 2008, he was appointed an honorary canon of Ely Cathedral.

Episcopal ministry

In November 2014, it was announced that Seeley would become the 11th Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. His canonical election was confirmed on 7 May 2015. On 14 May 2015, he was consecrated a bishop by Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury during a service at Westminster Abbey. On 20 June 2015, he was installed as Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. He has also been an honorary assistant bishop of the Diocese of Ely since 2015.

Seeley was married to Cynthia McLean from 1980 until 1989. He married Jutta Brueck in 1999; she is also a priest. They have two children.

• The Reverend Martin Seeley (1978–2007)
• The Reverend Canon Martin Seeley (2007–2015)
• The Right Reverend Martin Seeley (2015–present)