Sacred Heart to Welcome New Priest This Weekend

Father Chris Smith, the new pastor for Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in La Grange, will arrive this weekend. He will celebrate Mass here for the first time on Saturday, July 6, and Sunday, July 7.

Fr. Smith was most recently assigned to St. Louis Catholic Church in Waco as parochial vicar. His assignment at Sacred Heart will be his first as pastor.

“I’m originally from College Station, so I was brainwashed as a little boy to be an Aggie,” Smith said in an interview with the Record last Friday.

He graduated with a business degree from Texas A&M University in 2010. Later, during his time in seminary, he spent six months in Monterrey, Mexico as part of a language immersion program. He was ordained as a priest during the height of the COVID- 19 pandemic.

“I was ordained in 2020,” he said. “It was kind of a crazy time to be ordained.”

His first assignment as a priest was to the St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M University. After that he was assigned to St. Louis in Waco, where he worked closely with Bishop Louis Reicher Catholic School. His parents still live in College Station. He has one older sister and one younger sister, and they both live in the Dallas area.

“I’ve never lived in a town as small as La Grange,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to people teaching me about small town life.”

Smith said enjoys outdoor activities and watching college sports.

“I look forward to meeting all of the families in La Grange and being a good shepherd for them,” he said. “I want to see what their needs are. I definitely cherish family life. A huge thing for me is supporting our families.”

Smith said he looks to St. John the Baptist as a role model for his ministry.

“He always pointed people toward Jesus,” he said. “It wasn’t about himself. That’s what I hope to do as well.”

Smith will also celebrate a Mass next Wednesday, July 10, followed by a half-hour Eucharistic Adoration.

“It will be a time to come together as a community and pray for the Holy Spirit to be with us,” he said.

Smith succeeds Fr. Brian Phillips, who celebrated his last Mass at Sacred Heart on Sunday. Phillips has been called to serve as pastor at St. Margaret Mary Church in Cedar Park.