Evelio Menjivar-Ayala

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. 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), 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. He was installed on July 2, 2026.