On May 18, Georgetown University awarded Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa degree in recognition of his empathy, his walk with the people, his courage and willingness to establish a greater friendship with God and neighbor.
In reading the citation, Jesuit priest Fr. Peter Folan, a Department of Theology professor, said, “Georgetown University turns its focus toward a man whose job description is, in a single word, ‘closeness.’ And the university honors him for doing that job so very well.”
Previously, he pointed out that growing in humanity, becoming authentically and integrally human, demands that we let others’ cries, others’ hunger for closeness draw us into a deeper relationship with them.
In sketching a profile of Bishop Menjivar, Folan noted that his gift for closeness was forged by his experiences of distance. As a teenager, he left the violence that had torn his native El Salvador to go find what every refugee before and after him has sought: freedom from danger; freedom for flourishing.
Three times, circumstances beyond his control thwarted his pilgrimage to safety. First, deportation; then, abandonment by guides; finally, imprisonment, Folan remarked. These setbacks, however, spurred young Evelio to develop a migrant’s core virtues: focus and ingenuity. In other words, he learned grit. So, he kept going. He got closer.
When he arrived in Los Angeles, he spoke very little English, had less advanced schooling levels than most of his peers, and lacked the documents he needed to live or work legally in this country. Seeing the life he wanted so tantalizingly near yet, practically speaking, so distant, Bishop Menjivar, once again, chose closeness.
After petitioning for and receiving asylum and a work permit, he cleaved to the people who labored alongside him in construction work, cleaning crew, and painting. He immersed himself in the study of Salvadoran and Catholic cultures in and around Washington, D.C., which became his home more than thirty years ago. He tightly embraced the God who always carried him, encouraged him, and called him into a greater friendship.
This friendship ultimately brought him to the day of his ordination as a priest in 2004; to parish ministry in Germantown, Bethesda, Landover Hills, and the District of Columbia; to a management job in the Archdiocese of Washington; and in 2023 to the office of bishop.
The motto he selected as he began his episcopal ministry – Ibat cum illis or “he walked with them” – encapsulates in three words what requires only one. As a bishop, a priest, a Christian, and a human being, Bishop Menjivar embodies closeness. In so doing, he makes incarnate his very own words: “We cannot say that we love God if we do not love those who are closer to us… Empathy, or putting ourselves in another’s shoes, is to realize our common humanity.”
Georgetown University President John DeGioia presented Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala with a Doctor in Humane Letters, honoris causa diploma.
In his remarks, Bishop Menjivar thanked and accepted the honor bestowed on him on behalf of the young people from war-torn nations who, despite their enthusiasm and aspiration for higher education, have seen conflicts disrupt their plans and shatter their dreams for the future.
He accepted it, too, on behalf of the many young people who, seeing no future for them in their homelands, are forced to abandon their studies and migrate elsewhere. In most cases, they never get the chance to go back to school because working and supporting their families back home becomes a priority,” he said.
This was also his own story, Menjivar pointed out. “When I was 18 years old, I made the difficult decision to leave my home country of El Salvador and travel to the United States. I didn’t see a future for myself in El Salvador because, in those years, my country was experiencing the devastation by a civil war that ultimately resulted in over one hundred thousand deaths, and over two million displaced. I knew that the journey North was not going to be easy, and it was not. But my determination paid off. In 1990, I arrived in Los Angeles, California with only a change of clothes and a backpack full of dreams.
“As most immigrants do, I did any kind of work I could get: receptionist, construction worker, cleaning crew, painting, youth ministry. Meanwhile, I took English classes at night, and I also studied for the High School equivalency diploma.
Sensing he was called to the priesthood, he was ordained a priest in 2004, serving in the Archdiocese of Washington for 20 years. Finally, he was consecrated a bishop on February 21, 2023. “Not bad for someone who began cleaning restrooms and painting houses with no English and not even a high school diploma! We all must start somewhere and seize every opportunity that life offers us,” Bishop Menjivar said.
All the lessons learned during those early years in the “classroom of life” as a newly arrived immigrant will stay with him always, he added. These lessons also helped him to better understand the daily struggles of those he has been called to serve.
Addressing the graduates, he said: “After years of hard work, today you also complete a significant chapter in your life. Part of the excitement we now feel in the air is the realization that this is not an end, but the beginning of a new stage in your ongoing journey in life.
“Your career paths – or continued studies for some – will take you into different fields and directions, but I have no doubt you share the praiseworthy common goal I often hear when young people tell me what they want to do when they grow up: to do something to help others, to make a positive difference in the world,” he pointed out.
“Gazing into the future, besides this assurance that you do not walk alone, that the Lord is at your side, I would like to share with you some of the lessons I learned during those early years - namely, the importance of gratitude and the related humble appreciation of our human connectedness and interdependence,” he said.
“Your professors, mentors, friends, family, and above all, your parents, who have been with you throughout this journey deserve your thankfulness for their help and support along the way. They are also a part of your success story! In your future endeavors, I would encourage you to always have that spirit of gratitude in your heart and often say those words we learned as young children, ‘Thank you’ and ‘please.’
“These simple gestures are very important and help build a better work environment, better human relationships, and a better world. They also help us appreciate everything, even small things and small acts of kindness, because we take everything as a gift and not necessarily as something deserved or earned. For everything in life comes as a gift, a gift that is not necessarily free.”
In his experience as an immigrant, Menjivar said he is especially and forever grateful to this land, the United States of America, and to the countless people that have been instrumental in his own journey. “I am forever grateful to my sister Elva, who came to the United States before me and prepared the way for me and my other siblings,” he added.
Bishop Menjivar said he is also very grateful to his parents for teaching him the values of humility, hard work, service, and respect for others. In a very special way, “I am eternally grateful to my Mom, a campesina, a farmer woman, for instilling in me her love and respect for Mother Earth and for everything that Mother Nature has to offer.”
“These experiences help us recognize and appreciate our inherent connectedness as human persons. None of us is wholly self-sufficient. All of us are dependent upon each other. We are all a part of an ecosystem called family, community, church, and the entire world,” he added.
“The awareness of our connectivity and interdependency arises from the fact that we are all brothers and sisters in one human family. This brotherhood transcends cultural, race, creed, nationality, gender, and political barriers. Each of us is endowed with an infinite human dignity that we are to recognize, respect, promote and safeguard, starting with the most vulnerable around us.”
He noted, however, that in present times this awareness and the natural willingness to care for one another are being put to the test as they have been in other periods of human history. Wars and conflicts that keep erupting in many regions and countries around the world are creating real humanitarian crises that cannot be ignored.
“The blood of so many innocent people, especially that of children and young people, cries out to heaven. And what shall we say about the plight of the poor, the displaced, the homeless, the immigrants, the asylum seeker in our own communities and elsewhere? What should our response to this human drama be?” Bishop Menjivar asked.
Though migration has been a constant experience for the human family since its beginnings, these ongoing conflicts and wars, climate change, oppressive regimes and the natural drive to look for a better life are pushing people out of their own countries and forcing them to seek a new land that can offer them bread, dignity, and peace.
“Amidst policy disputes and political disagreements, and as a matter of justice and as an obligation to respect the human dignity of others regardless of their origin, we must always be ready, as pope Francis says, to be a community that welcomes, protects, promotes, and integrates immigrants and refugees that come to our country, rather than a society that reacts, exploits, denigrates, and dehumanizes others,” he pointed out.
Bishop Menjivar also acknowledged that the people of the United States have, since its origins, been remarkably welcoming to millions of immigrants and refugees. He added, as a matter of fact, that the way that we treat the most vulnerable in our society is the true indicator of whether we are or are not a great nation.
“Pope Francis has pleaded tirelessly for destination countries to assist newcomers, but he has equally insisted that the first and most basic right of people is that of not having to emigrate. People have a fundamental right to stay, to thrive, and live safely and freely in their own home countries.
“We cannot overlook, and much less be indifferent to, the unjust, painful conditions in other countries that force so many of our brothers and sisters into exile. We need to urgently deal with the root causes which trigger forced migrations, such as oppressive regimes, corruption, human trafficking, and climate change.
“We must overcome attitudes that cause us to look the other way, ignore or deny our human connectedness and say that the welfare of others is none of our business. We must also recognize that we are all responsible for one another, that in fact, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. Just as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘All life is interrelated… We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.’”
Reminding young graduates that the future of society is being placed into their hands, Bishop Menjivar challenged them to think of how heroic women and men of the past responded with greatness to the specific challenges of their time, and told them: “Ask: ‘What can I do to make my nation, my family, my neighborhood, my community, my nation and our world a better place, not just for ourselves but for everyone?’”
Finally, he pointed out that having access to education, especially to the high-quality education that Georgetown University provides to graduates is both a great blessing and a great responsibility. “Thank you for allowing me to share in your joy,” he added.
