WASHINGTON, D.C. — Reverend Robert P. Boxie III, a native Lake Charles, former parishioner of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, and a 1998 graduate of St. Louis Catholic High School, has been appointed by Pope Leo XIV as one of two auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington.
The announcement was made on Friday, May 1, 2026. Bishop-elect Boxie is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington and currently serves as chaplain to Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Bishop-elect Boxie, 45, is set to become the nation's youngest Catholic bishop. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. and Roxanne (Guillory) Boxie Jr. of Lake Charles.
During a press conference on May 1 at the Pastoral Center of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in Hyattsville, Maryland, Father Boxie said that he was both overwhelmed and deeply humbled but grateful to the Holy Father Pope Leo for appointing him as one of new auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington. "To say this is unexpected is an understatement. God’s plans are not always our plans,” he shared.
Father Boxie was born on September 18, 1980, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering from Vanderbilt University (2002), a Juris Doctor from Harvard University (2007), and studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, earning a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (2015) and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (2017) from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 2016.
Father Boxie’s pastoral assignments include: parochial vicar at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Derwood, Maryland (2016); and parochial vicar at St. Joseph parish in Largo, Maryland (2017-2020). Since 2020, he has served as chaplain at Howard University in Washington. Bishop-elect Boxie has also served as professor in the Archdiocese of Washington’s permanent diaconate program since 2018 and has been an assistant vocations director for the archdiocese since 2016.
The Archdiocese of Washington is comprised of 2,104 square miles in the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland.
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