Moving forward

By: RAYMOND PARTSCH III
Managing Editor

Father Thomas Voorhies takes a brief moment to reflect on how to answer the question.
The new pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, and Sacred Heart School, sits in his office and ponders the question that has been presented. That question is how will the 51-year-old attempt to mend relationships with parishioners, as well as members of the community, in the aftermath of the controversy that has engulfed the school, and to a lesser extent the church, in recent months.
The mild-mannered Voorhies, who officially took over on July 6th, doesn’t take long though to respond and promptly does so by citing the Old Testament.
“The scripture passage that comes to mind is Isaiah Chapter 2, Verse 4,” Voorhies said. “They shall beat their swords into plow shares.”

A calling to serve
Voorhies’ journey to Sacred Heart began more than 50 miles south of Ville Platte.
He was born on September 21, 1963 in Lafayette to Ben and Lenore Voorhies, and was one of four children the couple had. Even though he grew up in a Catholic household, the family home was one of acceptance of all religions as his mother was born and raised Jewish. In addition, his father, a lawyer by trade, often had different university students and missionary priests over to the home for a welcoming place to come and eat during the holiday season.
“It definitely provided me with an interreligious outlook,” Voorhies said. “My mom was Jewish but she helped us every day with our Catholic school homework. My younger sister would go on and marry a Muslim. So we have had the three monotheistic religions in our family.”
Voorhies would go on to graduate from Cathedral-Caramel High School in 1981 and would follow his older brother on the path to priesthood. That brother being Msgr. Bennett J. Voorhies who served for a time as an Associate Pastor at Sacred Heart in the late 1980’s.
Voorhies would attend Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas and graduate from there, and also earned a history degree from the University of Dallas. Following graduation, Voorhies worked in two different churches in Kaplan for a year, before heading to the North American College in Rome where he would be ordained on June 10th, 1990 by none other than Pope Saint John Paul II.
“It was a wonderful experience,” Voorhies said. “Most decide to be ordained back home because not enough family can be there for them but we were able to do it. He laid my hands on my head and I was ordained. It was a highlight of my life for sure. It was great gift from God.”

Shepherd in church and school
After becoming an ordained priest, Voorhies returned stateside and back to Louisiana where he would serve as an associate pastor at St. Genevieve in Lafayette for more than three years, while also serving as chaplain for Teurlings Catholic High School. That would be not the last time he served a church and its affiliated school.
After becoming a pastor for the first time at two churches in Delcambre, Voorhies left after nearly years to take over at St. Anthony’s in Eunice. There he would serve the next seven years as pastor for the church and St. Edmund Catholic School. He then left to serve as pastor for Sts. Peter and Paul, and the newly-created school of the same name, in Scott.
That vast amount of experience will aid Voorhies at Sacred Heart.
“Definitely being a product of Catholic schools all my life and then having worked at three different Catholic schools helps me,” Voorhies said. “My experience and love for Catholic education has given me a desire to help schools develop and fulfill their mission.”

Following God’s plan
Voorhies didn’t plan on accepting his position at Sacred Heart.
He was content in Scott and even had recently traveled to Rome where he celebrated his 25th anniversary as an ordained priest, over the tomb of Pope Saint John Paul II none the less. But when Bishop Michael Jarrell of the Diocese of Lafayette called and asked him to come to Ville Platte, Voorhies didn’t hesitate.
“I have never applied for a parish and I have always been well served by divine providence,” Voorhies said. “Father (Jason) Vidrine asked to be moved. The Bishop just called me and asked me to come to Ville Platte and I said yes. I couldn’t come up with any reason to say no.”
Voorhies, who prides himself on availability to his parishioners, plans to continue having Sacred Heart participating with Queen of All Saints on joint programs, as well as other community efforts. He also credits previous pastors such as Fathers Vidrine and Joshua Guillory for laying the foundation at Sacred Heart and says that people “have been very welcoming.”
As for any other future plans, Voorhies is going to follow the lead of Pope Francis.
“He’s brought a whole new energy to the church,” Voorhies said. “We want to jump on the band wagon with Pope Francis and follow the direction he is leading us in evangelism and outreach to the poor and the needy.”