Charleston, WV (WOAY) There’s a leadership change for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.
Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Mark Brennan and appointed Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as his successor.
Menjivar-Ayala currently serves as Auxiliary Bishop of Washington and will become the tenth bishop of the diocese.
His installation is set for July 2 in Wheeling.
Originally from El Salvador, he became the first Salvadoran bishop in the United States in 2023 and has served in several leadership roles within the Archdiocese of Washington.
Menjivar-Ayala migrated to the United States from El Salvador in 1990.
Bishop Menjivar-Ayala earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, Florida.
He later attended the North American College in Rome, earning a master’s degree in theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in 2002.
Menjivar-Ayala was ordained to the priesthood for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in May 2004.
Bishop Brennan will remain as apostolic administrator until the transition is complete.
