๐๐๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ผ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ท๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ-๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ grew up in a devout Catholic family in El Salvador at a time when Catholics were persecuted and even assassinated for supporting those critical of the countryโs violent regime.โThose were years of great suffering. And many people began to look for other places: to leave their towns, to go to Honduras, to form groups of refugee communities,โ Evelio said in a recent interview with U.S. Catholic magazine. โPeople began questioning the government because it was clear that it wasnโt a democracy. It was a military government.โ
As a teenager, Evelio fled his homeland and embarked on a journey to the U.S. He was arrested more than once trying to cross the border, but in 1990, he finally made it. Because of the dangerous civil war in El Salvador, the U.S. government granted a temporary work permit to Evelio, and he set out on a path familiar to many immigrants: working multiple jobs, paying taxes, attending night school to learn English, and eventually earning U.S. citizenship. And after joining a local parish, he felt an undeniable calling to serve God and the Catholic Church.
โI barely had a GED, but I saw that the Lord truly wanted me to be a priest. When I passed the GED exam, it was a sign for me. When I obtained permanent residency, it was another sign for me that the Lord was truly calling me to the priesthood,โ said Evelio, who would go into the priesthood and beyond. In 2004, Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C., making him the first Salvadoran bishop in the U.S.
Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala will speak at two 2025 Festival of Faiths sessions at Kentucky Performing Arts: โ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ดโ on Friday, Nov. 14, and โ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ต-๐๐ป: ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐บ๐บ๐ถ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐โ on Saturday, Nov. 15. Learn more, see the full lineup, and get your all-access pass.