Religious Life
In 1922, one of Joshua Blanton's earliestacts as president of
Voorhees Normal School was to initiate a working agreement with the
Protestant Episcopal Church and its agency for work among southern
Blacks and the now defunct American Church Institute for Negroes. The
Voorhees Normal School, now Voorhees College, became affiliated through
the endorsement of the two Dioceses of South Carolina.
Shortly, after Voorhees' affiliation with the Episcopal Church,
services were held by the two Archdeacons of the respective Dioceses,
the Venerable E. L. Baskerville and the Venerable J. B. Elliott.
Thus began a long relationship between Voorhees and the Episcopal Church, a partnership that endures today.
As Voorhees moved into the new millennium, it renewed its historical
partnership with the Episcopal Church. The Church alone cannot fulfill
the commission without the help of Christian institutions of learning.
Conversely, Voorhees College cannot, without the help of the Church,
provide effective teaching and learning that helps its learners to
proclaim that the Rule of God is at hand, to select careers that
nourish people for the riches of His grace and to Glorify God in this
life and in the life to come.
And as the Church nourishes the spirit, the college nurtures the mind.
Contact the Chaplain
The Rev. Dr. Ira J. Johnson, Chaplain/Vicar(803) 780-1264
ijohnson@voorhees.edu