Fr. Joseph M. Vanderholt, S.J.'s Obituary
Rev. Joseph M. Vanderholt, S.J., a chaplain at Jesuit High School of Tampa since 2021, died peacefully in the Lord and fortified by the sacraments of the Catholic Church on May 6, 2023, at AdventHealth Connerton in Land O’Lakes, Florida. He was 85 years old, a Jesuit for 67 years and a priest for 55 years.
Fr. Vanderholt was born on June 17, 1937, in Beaumont, Texas. He attended St. Anne’s Parochial School and St. Anthony’s High School in Beaumont before entering the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, in 1955. Following his novitiate, first vows, and humanities studies at Grand Coteau, he studied philosophy at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and then earned a Master of Arts degree in English literature at the University of Chicago. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1968 after completing his theological studies in St. Mary’s College (St. Mary’s, Kansas), and at Saint Louis University.
During the next 55 years, Fr. Joe, as he preferred to be called, ministered in Jesuit high schools in Dallas, New Orleans, and Tampa, in campus ministry at Spring Hill College, and in parish churches in New Orleans as well as Albuquerque, New Mexico. His longest assignment was in Albuquerque, from 2001 to 2021 at Immaculate Conception Parish. Father had a deep love for music and was an excellent pianist. He was exceedingly well-read in literature with a love for theatre, cinema, and television drama. In fact, as a young priest he studied drama for a year at Catholic University. To the very end, he put his impressive memory and command of English to fine use in his preaching and daily conversation. He was a kind and gentle confessor, and a priest of humble demeanor.
Fr. Joe was predeceased by his parents, Charles Vanderholt and Helen Donahue Vanderholt, and his two brothers, Charles Vanderholt, Jr., and the Rev. Monsignor James Vanderholt.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at Jesuit High School in the Chapel of the Holy Cross on Tuesday, May 9, at 6:00 pm, preceded by a visitation beginning at 1:00 pm. His burial will take place at the Jesuit novitiate in Grand Coteau, Louisiana.
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