Assignment Record– Rev. Donald Stavinoha, O.M.I.

Summary of Case: Donald Stavinoha was ordained for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1970. He served mostly in parishes in the dioceses of Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Galveston-Houston TX. In the late 1970s-early 1980s he was assigned to San Pedro Huamelula in Oaxaca, Mexico, in the Tehuantepec diocese.

In May 1986, Stavinoha was caught by a police officer in Galveston performing oral sex on a young boy in a church van. The boy said similar incidents had happened before. After he was arrested, Stavinoha was suspended from ministry and sent to treatment in San Antonio and New Mexico. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January 1988 to to nine years and nine months in prison and fined $10,000. The boy's mother sued and received a settlement before trial. After serving just one year and two months in prison, Stavinoha was returned under supervision to his order in San Antonio. In 2002 he was known to be living at a Missouri treatment center. He died in Houston March 27, 2007.

Born: January 10, 1943
Ordained: 1970
Died: March 27, 2007

1970

Diocese of San Antonio

Bishop was Francis James Furey (1969-1979).

1971

Diocese of Corpus Christi

Bishop was Thomas Joseph Drury (1965-1983).

1979

Diocese of Tehuantepec

Bishop was Arturo Lona Reyes (1971-2000).

1982

Diocese of San Antonio

Bishop was Patrick Fernández Flores (1979-2004).

1983

Diocese of Galveston-Houston

Bishop was John Louis Morkovsky (1975-1984), followed by Joseph Anthony Fiorenza (1984-2006).

Galveston

• Stavinoha was arrested in May1986 after he was caught by a police officer performing oral sex on a 9-year-old boy. The two were in a church van late at night when the officer approached and shined his flashlight into a window. The boy said their were similar incidents previously. The boy's parents said the priest had taken their son to play video games.

IHM had a school with 155-88 students.

Stavinoha is not indexed beyond the 1986 Directory.

Stavinoha was suspended from ministry after his arrest and sent to treatment in San Antonio and New Mexico. He remained a priest.

Stavinoha pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault. He was sentenced in January 1988 to nine years and nine months in prison and fined $10,000. The boy's mother sued. The case was settled before trial. Stavinoha was released from prison under supervision after serving one year and two months. He returned to the Oblates in San Antonio. In 2002 he was living at a treatment facility in Missouri.

Stavinoha died in Houston March 27, 2007.

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (Kenedy & Sons, 1971-1986).

• Roman Catholic Priest Charged with Sex Assault on 9-Year-Old Boy, By Andrew Benson, Houston Chronicle, May 2, 1986
• Priest Brazen after Arrest, Officer Says, Houston Chronicle, By John Makeig, January 8, 1988
• Addenda, Washington Post, January 10, 1988
• Priest Sentenced in Sex Assault Case, Associated Press, Januayr 11, 1988
• Predators of the Cloth, By Evan Moore, Houston Chronicle, September 20, 1992
• Documents show bishops transferred known abuser,By Brooks Egerton with contributions by Michael D. Goldhaber, Dallas Morning News, August 31, 1997
• A Quiet Refuge — under Watchful Eyes, By Tim O'Neil and Patricia Rice, St. Louis Post Dispatch, March 3, 2002
• Parish Predators, By Craig Malisow, Houston Press, August 17, 2006 
• Suffrages for Our Deceased, Oblate Communications No. 465, May, 2007
• The Buried Abuse of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese, By Craig Malisow, Houston Press, January 17, 2017

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Stavinoha's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with the allegations against him, as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on January 19, 2017.