In a season of greetings and new beginnings, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is seeing a major shift in leadership with the appointment of two new Auxiliary Bishops: Father Gary Studniewski, who currently serves as pastor of Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, and Father Robert Boxie III, Howard University’s Catholic Chaplain.
Officially named by Pope Leo XIV, the D.C.-based faith leaders each bring decades of ministry work as they prepare to serve the Catholic Church in Maryland and Washington, joining Auxiliary Bishop Juan Esposito and Cardinal Robert McElroy, who led the May 1 introduction of the two bishop-elects.
“It’s a great day of joy for the Archdiocese of Washington, and it’s a sign of the Holy Father’s continuing provision and care for and love for pastoral care for this archdiocese,” McElroy said in his opening remarks of the press conference. “This provision of new bishops to serve as collaborators with me, and servants of the people of God, that care really came through. While we have Bishop [Evelio Menjivar] leaving us and Bishop [Roy E. Campbell, Jr.] retiring, the Pope has given us two wonderful, wonderful leaders for our local church.”
As Menjivar accepted his new position as bishop of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia, dozens of supporters gathered at the Pastoral Center of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in Maryland, for a moment rooted in pride and celebration on May 1.
For Studniewski, ordained in 1995, stepping into the role feels like a full-circle return to the presbyterate he “fell in love with” in 1987, when the Bishop-elect first came to the District as a military officer through the evangelical movement with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
“There’s something special about this one,” he said. “I encountered Christ in a very beautiful and personal way through the Church of Washington, and once I did, there was an inevitable call to serve this church that was giving so much to me.”
Beyond his military roots and knack for order, Studniewski says he plans to continue both McElroy’s and Pope Leo’s stances to drive “pastoral action,” which includes pouring into the vibrancy and diversity that precede the people of the Church of Washington.
Thus, he further defined his own episcopal motto in the lens of the Biblical telling of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “My grace is enough for you.”
“Time and time again throughout my priesthood, the Lord has called me. Sometimes I don’t understand…I always say yes, and then the grace follows,” he continued. “The grace follows for me to be an instrument of accomplishing God’s purposes, not my own. And now I will rely on that grace once again as I exercise the office of bishop, and I consider myself extremely blessed to do so.”
Meanwhile, Boxie –– currently serving as the chaplain at the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Student Center at Howard University –– emphasized the power in an appointment he considers bigger than himself.
“It’s an acknowledgement of the community that I come from, the community that has formed me in the faith. It recognizes the community that I serve now,” he said, before nodding to retiring Bishop Campbell Jr.’s work ethic and example of faithful service, that he noted the outgoing leader “carried out with a pastor’s heart.” “I pray every day…that I live up to the full responsibility of the sacred duty now entrusted to me –– with wisdom, with pastoral charity, with zeal, with sensitivity, and always relying on the help and the grace of God.”
With May 1 also symbolic of the First Fridays, a Catholic practice devoted to the Sacred Heart, the chaplain said his path forward looks like leaning on spiritual wisdom and collaboration to uplift all believers who serve Christ.
“I look forward to working with Cardinal Maroy, with my brother bishops, brother priests, archives and staff, religious men and women, all the lay faithful,” Boxie said, “that together we bring the good news of the gospel and the hope of the risen Christ to all throughout the Archdiocese of Washington and beyond.”
