St. Vincent parishioner is president elect of NCCW

Courtesy photo

+ Enlarge

Patricia Voorhes

HOLLADAY — A busy professional, wife, mother and grandmother, Patricia Voorhes nevertheless has made living her faith a priority in her life. In that spirit, for the last 38 years she has been a member of the Council of Catholic Women. That involvement has led to leadership opportunities at the diocesan, regional and national levels. Next week at its annual convention in Atlanta, Ga., Voorhes will be sworn in as the president-elect for the organization’s national board.

“We need to be outspoken in what we believe,” Voorhes said. “The Council of Catholic Women gives us the tools to speak out and be proud of our faith.”

 In 1981, Voorhes joined Blessed Sacrament Parish’s Council of Catholic Women and later served as the council’s president. At the time, her two daughters, Leigh Anne and Heather, were young, and she felt it was important to be an example, she said.

The camaraderie and friendship she has experienced in the organization has been important to Voorhes.

“People can feel really isolated if they don’t develop friendship with those who share same kinds of beliefs,” she said. “The Council of Catholic Women is also big into service.”

Voorhes went on to serve as the first president of the CCW Wasatch Deanery and as second vice president, first vice president and then president at the diocesan level. At the national level, she served a term as church commissioner and then as secretary, and last year finished a term as San Francisco province director.

When that term ended, Voorhes had no intention of running for national office, she said, but was approached by members of the national board and asked to consider the position of president elect. She did not immediately jump on the idea.

“I prayed on it for three months,” she said.

Then, at the funeral of her close friend Kathy Jones who, she said, had always supported her involvement in NCCW and had encouraged her to run for higher office, she got the feeling “that this was something I needed to do,” she said.

She was voted into the position in a national election in March.

In his recommendation letter for the position of president elect, Bishop Oscar A. Solis praised Voorhes’ work in revitalizing the Council of Catholic Women at St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

“She worked closely with the pastor in developing a challenging plan for this group,” he said. “She was competent and realistic in the process. She was easy to work with and brought a pleasant sense of excitement to the task. … Patricia is a good organizer and excels at inviting others to participate. She sets a great example by her own involvement and commitment of time and energy.”

As president elect, Voorhes will be responsible for planning the next two national conventions.

She will host monthly member calls where members phone in to a central line and discuss interesting topics. She will also write articles for the quarterly “Catholic Woman” magazine and for “Connect,” the monthly NCCW bulletin. In addition, she will help promote the organization’s upcoming 100th year in 2020.

While involvement in the organization can mean a sacrifice of one’s personal time, the rewards make the effort worth it, she said. She has especially enjoyed attending the annual conventions.

“Going to convention is a really great experience,” she said. “The Masses particularly are beautiful. It’s quite an experience to see 10 bishops and all of our spiritual advisers process in; it’s very inspiring.”

Some of the core issues addressed by the NCCW resonate with Voorhes. Like many others, her family has been touched by suicide and her family is very involved in suicide prevention. As president elect and then president, it will be very important to her to promote the NCCW’s 2018 resolution on suicide prevention, Voorhes said.

In her profession, Voorhes is a certified clinical transplant social worker and currently specializes in liver transplants. She has been married to her husband, Wayne, for 48 years. Both of her daughters, who still live in Utah, are very supportive and proud of her involvement with the NCCW, she said. She has five granddaughters and one deceased grandson.

Voorhes said she is committed to building on the goals of the NCCW to “support, empower and educate all Catholic women in spirituality, leadership and service,” and to “build programs that will be helpful to the women in meeting the needs of the Church and society.”

The greatest challenge to the organization is to grow its membership, she said.

“In order to secure our future, we have to develop more members,” she said. Voorhes hopes to be part of that process through facilitating increased communication with members and supporting efforts, which include the organization of college and high school councils, to reach out to younger Catholic women.

“I believe we are the voice of Catholic women,” she said of NCCW. “By being involved with us, you’re going to really understand and be able to talk about your Catholic faith, which is really important in this day and age. We have to promote ourselves.”