Two U.S. dioceses welcomed three new bishops this month with ordinations and installations in both the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va.
In Washington, Cardinal Robert McElroy ordained Bishop Gary Studniewski and Bishop Robert Boxie III into the order of bishops. Both prelates will serve auxiliary roles in the archdiocese.
Cardinal McElroy at the ordination Mass said the archdiocese had “been blessed by our Holy Father,” Pope Leo XIV, who made the appointments May 1. Bishops Studniewski and Boxie had previously served as priests in the archdiocese.
“All of us gathered today have the joy and the privilege of witnessing the grace of Spirit come upon these two men and set them aside in their new ministry as bishops,” Cardinal McElroy said at the ordination, which was livestreamed.
The Mass was held at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception July 7, attended by approximately 2,500 people. Among the attendees were Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the U.S.; Cardinal Donald Wuerl; Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout; Baltimore Archbishop William Lori; and numerous other local church leaders, along with hundreds of lay faithful.
Speaking to the new bishops, Archbishop Caccia at the Mass told them: “Each of you have followed the Lord along a distinctive path of service.”
He urged them to “always walk in faith, hope and love.”
Also in attendance at the archdiocesan ordination Mass was Bishop Evelio Menjívar-Ayala, who himself formerly served as an auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese and who was installed as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston July 2.
Pope Leo also announced his appointment May 1. The newly installed bishop is a native of El Salvador and is the first Salvadoran bishop in the history of the United States.
At his own installation Mass, the bishop referenced the classic John Denver folk song “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which in its opening strains refers to West Virginia as “almost heaven.”
He joked that the scorching heat wave affecting much of the U.S. made West Virginia feel “more like purgatory.” But he said the song’s lyrics “express something deeply present in every human heart — the longing to be at home, the longing to belong.”
Reflecting on his decades-long journey that began in Central America, Bishop Menjívar-Ayala said God “brought me from a distant life in El Salvador, the land of St. Oscar Romero, to this country.”
“I could never have imagined then the path he was preparing for me,” he said.
The prelate said he prayed that the faithful would “walk together in ministry, not merely along country roads, but along the way of the Gospel.”
In taking the role of bishop in Wheeling-Charleston, he replaced Bishop Mark Brennan, who served in that role from 2019 until this year.
