Special to the Standard | The Catholic Standard

(On May 1, 2026, Pope Leo XIV named Father Robert P. Boxie III – who was then serving as the chaplain at the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Student Center at Howard University in Washington, D.C. – as a new auxiliary bishop for Washington. On July 7, Bishop Boxie was ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington during a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The following are first-person reactions to his appointment from current students and a graduate of Howard University, and from the current and past campus minister there. Their responses were emailed to the Catholic Standard newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington before his ordination as a bishop.)

‘Rely on God to provide proper paths’

Jason H. Childs, a junior electrical engineering major at Howard University from Paulina, Louisiana, serves as co-president of the HU Bison Catholic community there. He said Father Boxie’s appointment as a bishop was “a really proud day for the whole HU Bison Catholic community.”