St. Bernard Parish to host annual Fe Y Cultura (Faith and Culture) event Sept. 19

The diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry and St. Bernard Parish in Akron invite all to attend the annual Fe Y Cultura (Faith and Culture) celebration on Sept. 19 at St. Bernard, 44 University Ave., Akron.

The celebration begins with registration at 9 a.m., followed by Mass at 10 a.m. Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost will be the principal celebrant. Bishop Evilio Menjivar-Ayala, who recently was installed as the Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, will be the homilist. The event will run until about 4 p.m.

Bishop Menjivar-Ayala, a native of El Salvador, will discuss the struggles he had as he tried to enter the United States as a teenager. He was smuggled into the country in 1990 in the trunk of a car with his brother. For the next several  years, he worked janitorial and construction jobs as he studied English and earned his GED. He entered St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, Florida in 1995 and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1999.

Bishop Menjivar-Ayala studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He earned a Master of Theology degree from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in 2002 and completed additional studies  in Rome. He was ordained a deacon on Oct. 10, 2002 in St. Peter’s Basilica and was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Washington on May 29, 2004 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the  Immaculate Conception in Washinton, D.C.

He became a United States citizen in 2006.

The bishop ministered in the Washinton, D.C. area until 2022, when Pope Francis appointed him as an auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C. on Dec. 19, 2022. He was consecrated on Feb. 21, 2023 and was the first Salvadoran-born bishop in the country.

Bishop Menjivar-Ayala will speak after lunch, sharing his personal story. There will be time for questions and answers before the entertainment.

Benediction will conclude the program.

Hortensia Rodriguez, director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry, said the program will showcase some of the faith traditions, food and folklore of the Hispanic countries.

“We celebrate that we are many peoples, but one Catholic Church in this country. This annual event is an opportune moment to proclaim that we are one Church that represents the different Hispanic American Communities in our Diocese of Cleveland,” she added.