Bishop Evelio Menjívar was born August 14, 1970, in Chalatenango, El Salvador. He migrated to the United States in 1990 and in 2023 became Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington, notably the first Salvadoran bishop in the country.

Bishop Menjívar attended St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, Florida, receiving a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He attended the North American College in Rome and obtained a master’s degree in theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome (“Angelicum”) in 2002. He pursued licentiate studies at the Pontifical Scalabrinian Institute for Pastoral Theology for Human Mobility in Rome before his ordination. He was ordained to the priesthood for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington on May 29, 2004.

Bishop Menjívar’s assignments in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington have included posts as parochial vicar at Mother Seton Catholic Church in Germantown; St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Bethesda; the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington; and as pastor of Our Lady Queen of the Americas Catholic Church in Washington. From 2017 to 2023, he served as pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Landover Hills. He speaks English, Spanish, and Italian.

He previously served as dean of Middle Prince George’s County Deanery and was also a member of the Archdiocesan Child Protection Advisory Board. In 2023, Cardinal Wilton Gregory named him Vicar General of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. He currently is a member of the Priest Personnel Board, Administrative Board, the College of Consultors, and the Priest Council. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Catholic Conference, Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services. He is also the Episcopal Moderator of the National Catholic Ecclesial Movements and Member of the USCCB Committee on Communications.

In 2024, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Georgetown University. Throughout his ministry, he has actively supported workers and continues to promote social justice for immigrants.

Bishop Menjívar was ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington on February 21, 2023, by Cardinal Wilton Gregory at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

The Holy Father Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Menjívar to be the 10th bishop of Wheeling-Charleston on May 1, 2026.

Note: Ayala is his mother’s surname and is only used when written formally.

Auxiliary Bishop of Washington Motto: Ibat cum illis “He walked with them.” (Luke 24: 15)

The blue field symbolizes the Blessed Virgin Mary, patroness of the United States. It also points to the color of the flag of El Salvador, the land where Bishop Menjívar-Ayala was born. 

The horizontal stripe in silver (white) symbolizes the desire for peace of all nations. 

The star symbolizes the gift of faith that leads us to Jesus Christ, the true light of the world. It also symbolizes Mary, often called the Star of the New Evangelization. Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, has been instrumental in the evangelization of the Americas, in the past as in the present. 

The Cross represents Christ and the mystery of our redemption. 

The scallop shell and the pilgrim’s staff symbolize our baptism and the journey of faith of a pilgrim Church. They also represent the personal journey of Bishop Menjívar as an immigrant in the United States. 

The motto, “Ibat cum illis,” “He walked with them,” is taken from the Gospel of Saint Luke chapter 24 verse 15. While two disciples of Jesus were walking downcast and conversing about what has happened in Jerusalem, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them. In virtue of his pastoral ministry as Auxiliary Bishop, he has received from the Lord the special call to go out to the peripheries to encounter those who walk without hope, and to walk with them in the journey of faith that leads to a personal encounter with the Risen Lord. As it happened with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, this journey must open our hearts to the virtue of hospitality which finds its maximum expression at the celebration of the Eucharist and when we welcome the strangers amongst us.

Designed by Bishop Evelio Menjívar, with the assistance of Reverend George Stuart and Georgina Wilkinson