Evelio Menjivar-Ayala
Evelio Menjivar-Ayala was born on August 14, 1970, in Chalatenango, El Salvador, and fled the civil war as a teenager. After two failed attempts he reached the United States in 1990, hidden on the final leg in the trunk of a car; he gained humanitarian protection within weeks, later a religious-worker visa, and eventually citizenship. He worked construction and janitorial jobs, earned his GED, and found his vocation in a Maryland parish.
He studied at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and in Rome, at the North American College and the Angelicum, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington on May 29, 2004. His ministry ran largely to Spanish-speaking parishes: pastor of Our Lady Queen of the Americas in Washington (2013-2017) and of St. Mary in Landover Hills (2017-2023). Ordained an auxiliary bishop of Washington on February 21, 2023 - the first Salvadoran bishop in the United States - he became Cardinal Gregory's vicar general.
On May 1, 2026, Pope Leo XIV named him the tenth Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, and he was installed at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling on July 2, 2026. He came preaching belonging to a rural, native-born diocese - 'almost heaven,' he called it at his installation - and within two months had widened the door to the old Mass his predecessor had narrowed.
- 2026-08-28Message to the diocese (delegate appointment effective August 24): Very Rev. Timothy J. Grassi, pastor of St. James in Charles Town, appointed episcopal delegate for matters concerning the usus antiquior, charged with ensuring celebrations are lawfully permitted under universal law and the dispositions of the Apostolic See and with coordinating authorized celebrations, locations and calendars. Regional delegates named: Fr. Golna for the Wheeling area (new), Fr. Crenwelge continuing in Morgantown, Fr. Szabo continuing for Charleston. ↗
- 2026-08-28Designated locations announced: Our Lady of Seven Dolors Mission in Triadelphia for the Wheeling area, celebration authorized on Sundays at 1:30 p.m. beginning September 20 - previously, on the Catholic News Agency's account, a monthly celebration there, so the change raises it to every Sunday. St. John University Parish in Morgantown designated, Saturday 9 a.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. For the Charleston area, the location was stated to be determined. ↗
- 2026-08-30Attended the Solemn High Mass at the Priory of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Charles Town, the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem community that offers the old Mass daily, and addressed the congregation before the homily, assuring them of his deep affection and esteem and praising their fidelity to the sacred liturgy. ↗
Bishop Menjivar-Ayala had been installed eight weeks when he moved on the old Mass - and he moved to widen it. His message of August 28, 2026 appointed Father Timothy Grassi of St. James, Charles Town, as episcopal delegate for the usus antiquior, designated the places where the faithful may gather for it across a statewide diocese, and raised the Wheeling-area Mass at Our Lady of Seven Dolors in Triadelphia from a monthly celebration to every Sunday, beginning September 20. Two days later he attended the Solemn High Mass at the Priory of the Annunciation in Charles Town in person and told that congregation, before the homily, of his deep affection and esteem for them, praising their fidelity to the sacred liturgy as enriching the whole Church.
The expansion is real, and it is also careful. He kept his predecessor's structure of regional delegates - Fathers Crenwelge in Morgantown and Szabo in Charleston continued in their roles - and his delegate's charge is to ensure every celebration is lawfully permitted under Traditionis Custodes and the dispositions of the Holy See. This is a bishop widening provision inside Rome's limits, not defying them: more Sundays, named sites, a promised location for the Charleston-area congregation, and a shepherd who showed up at the traditional community's own altar rather than merely writing about it.
The record is young, and fairness requires the caveat: as of October 2026 the Charleston location is still to be determined, and three months of acts are not a settled course. But direction is a fact too. Where his predecessor's first act narrowed the old Mass - permission required, no new communities, out of the parishes - Menjivar's first act enlarged it. On the evidence of his deeds so far, he is a friend of Tradition.