Father David Arroyo, CR, has begun serving as the vicar for Hispanic ministry in the diocese after his official appointment was made public by Bishop Earl Fernandes on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Father Arroyo, a member of the Congregation of Clerics Regular (known as the Theatine Fathers), replaces Father David Schalk, who became pastor at Powell St. Joan of Arc and Columbus St. Peter churches in July. Father Schalk had directed Hispanic ministry for the diocese since he was appointed as vicar by former Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan in 2019.
The Office of Hispanic Ministry serves the needs of the Latino population in the diocese. Seventeen diocesan parishes regularly offer Masses in Spanish.
Father Arroyo and two other Theatine priests came to the diocese just over a year ago in July 2022 and worked with Father Schalk while residing at Columbus Christ the King Church and assisting at several parishes. Two months ago in July, the Theatines moved to St. Peter and St. Joan of Arc as parochial vicars.
In addition to Father Arroyo’s new duties and parish ministry, he remains the chaplain at Cristo Rey Columbus High School and a lecturer at the Pontifical College Josephinum.
A native of Torreon, Mexico, Father Arroyo began studying for the diocesan priesthood in his home country but felt called to be a missionary and joined the Theatines after visiting a friend at the order’s only U.S. mission at the time in Colorado.
Father Arroyo grew up in Mexico as the youngest in a family with one brother and six sisters. His late parents, Victor and Amelia Arroyo, were teachers in the Mexican equivalent of high school.
After earning a college degree in seminary, Father Arroyo went to the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2018 to study for a licentiate in sacred theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 16, 2021 by Bishop Juan Munoz of Guadalajara, Mexico, where he served for a year before coming to Columbus with Father Victor Mendez, CR, and Father Salvador Cisneros, CR.
Father Tomas Carvahal, CR, who has been at Zoar Holy Trinity and Dover St. Joseph churches since July 2021, and the other Theatines are the first priests in the order to serve outside the Archdiocese of Denver and the Diocese of Pueblo in Colorado since the Theatines left New York more than 100 years ago.
The order, founded in 1524, had 161 members, including 124 are priests, as of 2020. They serve in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Netherlands and Spain.
The diocese’s Hispanic ministry office was directed by Angela Johnston from 2001 until her death in 2018. Later that year, the diocese created an ethnic ministries office that included Hispanic and Latino ministry until late 2019, when the Office of Hispanic Ministry was re-established.