Evelio Menjivar-Ayala (born August 14, 1970) is a Salvadorian American Catholic prelate serving as Bishop of Wheeling–Charleston since 2026. When made an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington in 2023, he was the first Salvadoran-born bishop in the country.
Biography
Early life Menjivar-Ayala was born on August 14, 1970, in Chalatenango, El Salvador. As a teenager, he made three attempts to enter the United States illegally. Finally, in 1990, he and his brother were smuggled in the trunk of a car over the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. Over the next several years, while studying English and earning his GED, he worked janitorial and construction jobs in California and then in Washington, where he arrived in 1990.
Deciding to become a priest, he entered the St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, Florida, in 1995, where he earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1999.
Menjivar-Ayala was sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome in 1999 and received a Master of Theology degree from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in 2002. He completed further studies at the Scalabrini International Migration Institute (SIMI), part of the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, where he earned a licentiate. Menjivar-Ayala was ordained a deacon in St. Peter's Basilica on October 10, 2002, by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan.
Priesthood On May 29, 2004, Menjivar-Ayala was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. He became an American citizen in 2006.
The archdiocese assigned Menjivar-Ayala as parochial vicar for Mother Seton in Germantown, Maryland (2004 to 2008), Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in Bethesda, Maryland (2009), the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in Washington (2009 to 2013), and then pastor of Our Lady Queen of the Americas Parish in Washington (2013-2017), and of St. Mary's Church in Landover Hills, Maryland (2017-2022).
Episcopal career Auxiliary Bishop of Washington
Pope Francis appointed Menjivar-Ayala as an auxiliary bishop of Washington on December 19, 2022. He was consecrated on February 21, 2023, by Cardinal Wilton Gregory at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. The co-consecrators were Bishop Mario Dorsonville and Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell. He was the first Salvadoran-born bishop in the country. His took his motto, Ibat cum illis ("He walked with them"), from Luke 24:15.
Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston On May 1, 2026, Pope Leo XIV appointed Menjivar-Ayala the tenth bishop of Wheeling-Charleston. He was installed on July 2, 2026.
See also
Catholic Church hierarchy Catholic Church in the United States Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States List of Catholic bishops of the United States Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops
References
External links
Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Official Site Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington Official Site
Episcopal succession