Born Dec. 1, 1955 in Biloxi, Miss. To Louis N. Donohoe, USCG and Mary Joanne McAllister. Louis and Mary were both born and raised in Washington, DC. He was the fifth of six children born to this family. There were four boys and two girls. Louis, Jr., Michael, Kathy, Dennis, Patrick, and Theresa. While “southern born” in Biloxi, his younger sister Theresa was born 11 months later (an Irish Twin) in Kodiak, Alaska. His mother died in December 1988. His father remarried to Jean Caldwell in 1991. His stepmother died in 1999. Louis came to live with his son in the parish rectory in Beeville until his death in August 2001. His parents, Louis and Mary, are both buried in Arlington National Cemetery overlooking their beloved Washington, DC.

Due to his father’s United States Coast Guard career as a pilot and engineer, the family moved every two to three years. He lived in Biloxi, MS; Kodiak, AK, Traverse City, MI, Topsfield, MA, Corpus Christi, TX, and Cleveland, OH. This required numerous changes of schools during his early years. In 1973, he graduated with honors from North Olmsted High School in North Olmsted, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland). He attended Texas A&M University for a period of three years majoring in Chemistry. In his third year at A&M, he decided to try the seminary for the Diocese of Corpus Christi as a test to see if it was right for him. He stayed and attended the University of Dallas receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in History in 1978 and a Masters Degree in Divinity in 1982.

He was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest by the Most Reverend Thomas J. Drury, DD, the Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi on September 17, 1982 in Corpus Christi Cathedral in Corpus Christi, Texas.

His first assignment was as Parochial Vicar at the Cathedral for the next 18 months. His next assignment was as Administrator of Immaculate Conception Church in Gregory, Texas. After a year in the position, he was made Pastor of the Parish. He was named as Vocation Director of the Diocese in 1985, a position he held for one year. In August of 1986 he was sent to Catholic University of America in Washington, DC to pursue a doctorate in Sacred Theology. While within six months of completing his degree and dissertation, he was, at the direction of the then Bishop Gracida, assigned to take the Pastorate of the newly formed Collegiate Parish of St. Thomas Aquinas at Texas A&I University in Kingsville, Texas in 1990. It was thought that this position would allow him to complete his doctoral work and meet the needs of the small but growing Catholic community at the college. After two years at the university, the Bishop’s dire need for a pastor at a parish church sent Father Donohoe to Immaculate Conception Church in Taft, Texas in October of 1992. This was a position he would hold for seven years. At the end of his seven-year term, during his pastoral review conversation with the Vicar General, the need for an experienced pastor at St. Joseph Church in Beeville was discussed. As it was a large parish, with a school, convent with six sisters, large church construction debt, and parish cemetery, Father Patrick quietly tried to dismiss the suggestion. After, the third gentle “You WILL be the next pastor of St. Joseph”; he started packing for his new assignment in October 1998.

Since his arrival at St. Joseph Church, he has retired the entire church construction debt, stabilized the then faltering Catholic School – St. Mary’s Academy, greatly increased the parish enrollment, modernized the parish office, and enhanced the parish life. He has remained in this parish assignment for the last eight years 1998 to the present. He was responsible for the construction and funding of the current parish parking lot. As of 2007, the parish is now endeavoring to design and construct a new parish hall and religious education center to meet the ever-growing needs of the parish community.

He is one of the founding directors of the St. Mary’s Academy Charter School. This was a project of conversion of the former Catholic School into a flourishing public elementary school. The Charter School is now in its sixth year with and maintaining student enrollment for each of the past six years. The Charter School Board is now embarking on a major fundraising and capital expansion of the school with a 3.6 million dollar construction of a new school building to accommodate more students for the future.

Father Patrick has been instrumental in the conversion of the Mardi Gras Ball Association of Beeville into becoming a major social event in the Beeville community and the annual source of over $20,000.00 in scholarships for Bee County graduating high school seniors.