St. Boniface Staff

Chaplain and Founder

Fr. George Elliott

Father George Elliott is the Pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Chaplain of St. Mary's Catholic Campus Ministry. Though from North East Texas, and a priest for the Diocese of Tyler, Fr. Elliott has traveled the globe, obtaining a few degrees and mastering many languages on the way. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with a minor in Classical Languages from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, an STB from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, a License in Patristic Theology and Sciences from the Patristic Institute Augustinianum, and is now completing his Doctorate at the Pontifical Lateran University.

Principal

Fr Matthew Stehling

After high school, I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, with a degree in History. It was during my time at UT that I began really thinking about a vocation to the priesthood. A friend of mine mentioned that I was discerning to a priest from Tyler, and eventually my name was given to Bishop Eduardo Nevares, who was one of the Vocation Directors at the time. I was invited to visit the diocese after I graduated. A few months later I was accepted as a seminarian and was assigned to St. Joseph’s in Marshall. I completed my philosophy studies at the Josephinum in Columbus, OH and my theology studies at Universitá della Santa Croce in Rome. I was ordained a priest, January 25th, 2014. My first assignment was Parochial Vicar at St. Michael’s in Mount Pleasant, a little over year later as Administrator of St. Leo the Great in Centerville. After a couple of years I was moved to Holy Family in Lindale as Pastor. After a couple month sabbatical with the Benedictines of St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, AL I was assigned here in Nacogdoches. I look forward to ministering here at the various locations. 

I’ve always like fishing and hunting particularly dove and waterfowl. I’ve been involved in music in some form or fashion for most of my life, Marching Band in HS and College, Choirs from elementary school through seminary. I’m currently trying to learn the guitar. I enjoy reading, or listening to Audiobooks if I’m driving around. And I like listening to old Vinyl records. 

My favorite saint at the moment is Saint Benedict, but St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine are pretty cool too. 

Science Instructor

Brianna Oliver

Brianna Oliver graduated with the Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Environmental Science from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2017. Brianna spent a year in South Korea teaching English as a second language at three schools: an all-boys Catholic middle school, a specialized high school for future medical engineers, and a rural school for orphans.  In Fall 2018, she returned to the United States to pursue a Master of Science in Environmental Science with a minor in Geospatial Science.  She completed the M.S. from Stephen F. Austin in May 2020, having spent two years utilizing digital remote sensing to quantify changes in glaciers.  Currently, she remains at SFA pursing a Ph.D. in Forestry, serving as instructor for a Natural Resource Policy course for the Division of Environmental Science and teaching a Forestry Soils lab. In her free time, she loves road trips and going camping with her fiancé and their dog.  

Writing Literature and Grammar Instructor

David Gabler

David Gabler has wanted to be a writer since a teacher in the sixth grade said he was a good writer with a great imagination.  He started his first novel at that time and got up to page 50 when the manuscript was stolen and never recovered.  His favorite classes in high school were creative writing and Latin.  He’s always been classical!

After graduating with a B.A. in Journalism and Theology from Marquette University, he went on to become a technical writer for a small startup IT company.  This is where he taught himself how to program computers and subsequently made his living as a computer programmer for 31 years.

During that 31 years, he also taught computer science at a high school for derelict teens.  Simultaneously, he taught English and Maths at Sylvan Learning Center.  This inspired him to accept various teaching roles throughout his life – the most important being the teaching of his two sons with the help of home school CO-OPs.

History Instructor

Gary Treviño

Gary is a recent graduate from SFA with a double major in History and Philosophy.

Math and Study Hall

Curtis Bell

Curtis Bell graduated from California State University-Long Beach with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He also studied network engineering and administration at California Polytechnic University-Pomona. Curtis graduated with honors from Austin Community College with an Associate Degree in Biotechnology. He was part of a research team that used genetic engineering techniques to discover a novel gene in the Gota kola plant (Centella asiatica). Their work is published at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

While an electrical engineer and technician, Curtis provided precision testing of microscopic superfast gallium-arsenide circuits built into chips and wafers, provided custom maintenance and repair of wafer fabrication equipment, and provided on-demand custom construction of avionic, radar, and sensing circuitry. Curtis also used D-Base II database software to create a program that sorted telemetry data and formatted it into written reports. The telemetry was transmitted from intercontinental ballistic missile tests. Curtis was also his department’s mechanical drawing expert in Futurenet’s solid state circuit drawing software.

Curtis earned his California State teaching certificate in secondary school mathematics from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s, two-year district intern program. During his second year of teaching, he wrote a $165,000 grant to fund the creation of a technology lab at his middle school. He supervised the conversion of an old metal shop into a technology lab. He wrote the curriculum and designed the technology lab workstations and their client-server network. Upon transferring to a high school located across from University of Southern California, Curtis transformed his classroom with a Novel client-server network, intranet, and audio-visual system. Curtis did the complete installation himself and used his system to teach algebra, and stock market basics. He taught computer repair and upgrade to interested students.

Business Manager

Scott Hoey

Scott is also the business manager for Catholic Nacogdoches.  He feels called to serve the priests by supporting all of Catholic Nacogdoches in finances, facilities and development.  He also spent over 10 years working for the church as a youth minister.  He is currently the Captain of Troop 1847 of the Troops of St. George in Nacogdoches.  

Parent Leader

Crystal Hoey

Crystal has homeschooled her eight children for the past several years.  She brings a collaboration of having seen Catholic schools in Florida, Classical Co-ops in Austin and met and worked with several amazing parents and teachers.  She helped get the school off the ground by finding many of the staff and working with Father George to make St. Boniface a reality.  

Math Instructor

Jack Sullivan

Jack is a professor of Math at Stephen F. Austin State University and will be teaching Geometry this year at St. Boniface