Students at St. Mary’s School in Landover Hills, Maryland, have a Friday morning ritual during the school year. Class by class, they line up and walk across the parking lot for a weekly Mass at St. Mary’s Church.

On Friday Feb. 10, St. Mary’s students again walked across the parking lot and assembled at the church for Mass celebrated by their pastor. But two months earlier, it was announced that he would have new responsibilities. On Dec. 19, Pope Francis named Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, St. Mary’s pastor since 2017, as one of two new auxiliary bishops of Washington, along with Msgr. Juan Esposito-Garcia, a Washington priest who in recent years has served as an official with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops.

Celebrating the Mass for St. Mary’s students on that Friday morning, Bishop-elect Menjivar walked in the center aisle as he gave his homily, speaking in a friendly, conversational tone as he asked students questions about that day’s Gospel reading which told the story of Jesus healing a Deaf man.

St. Mary’s pastor – who was ordained as a Washington auxiliary bishop later that month, on Feb. 21 at St. Matthew’s Cathedral – asked the students what purpose their ears served. Many young students raised their hands to answer that people have ears so they can hear.

Bishop-elect Menjivar cautioned them that many times, people “close their ears to the Lord, our God,” especially when they have done something wrong.  

Noting how sometimes people won’t hear what others are saying to them, because they have earphones on as they listen to music, or they might be checking messages on their phones, St. Mary’s pastor pointed out that, “There are so many distractions, so many noises around us that prevent us from listening to God.” He noted that “Jesus came to open our ears to the voice of God, to hear God.”

He encouraged the students to put aside distractions during the day and quietly pray, so they can open their minds, hearts and ears to hear the voice of God guiding them. “God wants to talk with us and walk with us, He wants to be our friend,” Bishop-elect Menjivar said.

After Mass, Bishop-elect Menjivar smiled and personally greeted the students as they left the church and walked back to school.

Some members of the parish had joined the school Mass.

“To us, seeing all the kids here, part of the community is a sign that the Church is alive,” Bishop-elect Menjivar told the Catholic Standard after the Mass. “They bring a lot of hope to us. They renew us every Friday. They teach me that openness to God. They are so open to God, to the presence of God’s grace.”

As she walked from the church back to school, LaSandra Hayes, St. Mary’s principal noted that she likes to say, “This is God’s school. We are his servants, here on a mission.”

Hayes, St. Mary’s principal for the past five years, earlier worked for 16 years at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, where her granddaughters currently go to school. She strongly supports Catholic education. 

“We have the opportunity to not only nurture and minister to their academic needs and goals, but also to their heart, mind, and soul,” Hayes said. “We are not only preparing citizens for the future but citizens for heaven. That is the philosophy behind all that I do…It's very important to be able to talk about your faith, to practice your faith, to share your faith, and help students grow in their faith.”

According to Hayes, St. Mary’s is a stand-out school because of the student body. 

“We have a saying here that St. Mary’s School is a place to be, and it is, children love to come to school. And that is one of my goals, that students want to come to school every day to learn. This is a place where they are told that they are loved, they're loving, and they're lovable. That they know that they matter and their feelings matter. And we educate the heart and mind and soul of our students. This is a wonderful community, and I love being a principal,” Hayes said.

Reflecting on St. Mary’s pastor, Bishop Menjivar, she said, “I'm very excited for him. I've always felt that he has a bishop's heart even as a pastor, and I believe he'll make an incredible bishop. He is a man of the people. He cares. We are just so thrilled and so excited that our pastor Bishop-elect Menjivar will be Bishop Menjivar on Feb. 21. He’s going to bless a lot of people.” 

That morning, St. Mary’s eighth graders Lupita Torres al Cantara and Peyton Regis reflected on their time there as they look to the future and high school.

“[I like] how diverse it is [at St. Mary’s.] We have many different African cultures and Caribbean cultures and different Latin American cultures, so we really celebrate that. We do assemblies and it’s just fun, because we get to learn so much about everybody’s culture,” Peyton Regis said.

Both spoke about Bishop Menjivar’s presence at St. Mary’s and the impact he has had on the local community, as he attended events such as walk-a-thons and assemblies.

 Torres al Cantara’s family has grown close to Bishop Menjivar over the years.

 “He did my sister’s quinceañera. …He gets along with my dad, they have been friends since I [joined] this church,” Torres al Cantara said. “He would always talk to my family [after Mass, asking] how we were doing.”

She said his promotion to bishop did not come as a surprise. 

“I knew this was coming. He's a great pastor. He represents a community so great. He's interactive, and I already knew something like this was going to happen,” Torres al Cantara said. 

 Their peers, fellow eighth graders Jose Ulerio and Ailey Williams, also reflected on what makes their school special.

“I think St. Mary's is a phenomenal school. I really liked it, because it showed us how to make the right choices and showed us integrity. But I’m finally glad because I'm moving on to a new stage in my life,” said Ulerio, who has attended the school for 10 years since pre-kindergarten.

Williams said she appreciated how she has had the opportunity to learn in a more intimate setting.

“Personally, I like being in a small school, because it kind of opens up more chances to make closer connections. Because if you're in a bigger school, you might not know everyone, but at this school, everyone knows each other,” Williams said. She attributes this kind of setting to better learning opportunities, as she previously struggled with math class, but was able to improve with her teacher’s guidance.

They also praised the appointment of their pastor as a new auxiliary bishop.  

“I’m proud of him, because he's finally a bishop, and he is very deserving. He’s a very good person, and he’s always helped me out personally in my family,” Ulerio said. 

Teachers Laurie Maier and Leisel Lashley spoke about their experiences as educators at St. Mary’s. 

Maier teaches middle school math and science. Catholic education has always been important to her. 

“I was one of eight children growing up. Faith in our family has always been strong and at the forefront of all we do,” Maier said. “I always wanted to teach…[and I wanted to] make sure that the experiences I had in a Catholic school didn't get lost on the next generations. I wanted to give them the opportunity to develop their faith.”

Maier said the student body is what gives St. Mary’s character. 

“Our kids are different here… They greet you. They ask how you’re doing,” Maier said. 

She said the school has been blessed with Bishop Menjivar’s presence, especially during the height of the pandemic.

“You heard his sermon today about listening. He hears us, which is great, but he listens. He listens to what you say and how you say it… I’m just so, so happy for him with everything that he’s done,” Maier said. “He's been part of the food drive during the pandemic, the weekly distribution of foods. It would be easy for him to say you all just handle it. No, he was out there packing boxes and delivering boxes.”

Lashley, who teaches middle school religion, said the future bishop became pastor at St. Mary’s shortly after she had started working there.

 “I love how he’ll come down from the podium and engage with the congregation. I went to the New Year’s Day Mass, and the church was packed with people, and he didn’t think anything of the fact that it was so crowded and that the Mass might be longer, but he wanted to hear everybody’s New Year’s resolution,” Lashley said. “I hadn’t experienced that before, so I thought that was very, very personal.”

She hopes that her students leave her classroom and St. Mary’s knowing the support and affection the school has for them. 

“First and foremost, [I hope they know] how much they’re loved by God. How much St. Mary’s cares about them and their future and their future goals. I hope they will continue with their Catholic education and their Catholic faith. Just a reassurance that they could always come back and visit. Knowing that they’ll be, as Mrs. Hayes would always say that they are ‘loved, loving and lovable,’” Lashley said. “That you know that love will never change.”

 (Mark Zimmermann contributed to this story.)