David Eugene Fellhauer

David Fellhauer was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Harold E. and Helen R. Francis Fellhauer.  He attended primary school at St. Agnes School in Kansas City, Kansas, then went to Pontifical College Josephinum for high school, college and seminary training.[1]

On May 29, 1965. Fellhauer was ordained to the priesthood for the diocese of Dallas. In 1979, he obtained his doctorate in canon law from Saint Paul University. and did pastoral and curial work in the Diocese of Dallas-Fort Worth.[2]

On April 19, 1990, Pope John Paul II appointed Fellhauer as the second Bishop of Victoria in Texas. He received his episcopal consecration at Our Lady of Victory Cathedral in Victoria on May 28 from Archbishop Patrick Flores, with Bishops Thomas Tschoepe and Charles Grahmann serving as co-consecrators. [1]

On August 9, 1994, The Dallas Morning News reported that in 1984 Fellhauer agreed to accept Robert Peebles Jr as a parish priest in Dallas. This was despite knowing that Peebles had been dishonorably discharged from the US Army for sexually abusing an altar boy while an Army chaplain. [3] Peebles abused three more children in the Dallas parish before being laicized in 1989. When asked to comment about the article, Fellhauer said: "We made the best decision at the time in view of the circumstances."[3]

Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, he formerly chaired the Committee on Canonical Affairs.

In 1998, Fellhauer received the Role of Law award from the Canon Law Society of America.[1]

• Diocese of Victoria, Texas
• Catholic-Hierarchy
• Bishops of Texas