Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, is an Episcopal parish church in the progressive Anglo-Catholic tradition. It is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and is located in the Philadelphia Main Line.

Good Shepherd offers a robust program of high church Anglican worship, using the Book of Common Prayer (1979). The church's theology is inclusive of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.

The 19th-century church building has been called "a gorgeous, absolutely stunning neo-gothic space, [whose] acoustics are fantastic".



History
The parish was founded in 1869 as part of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement revival in the Anglican Church, and was admitted to the Diocese of Pennsylvania in 1871. Its original church building, demolished in 1901, was on the north side of Lancaster Avenue, just east of the present football stadium of Villanova University.

Through a donation of $27,000 (approximately $912,000 in 2023 dollars ) from parishioner Harry Banks French of the Smith, Kline & French company, (in memory of his recently-deceased wife, Augusta Graham French) the present church building was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm of Baily & Truscott. Constructed in 1893 and 1894, the architecture is in the Gothic Revival style of a 14th-Century English country church. The first services were held in 1894, and the building was consecrated in 1910.

Rectors
The parish rector is the Rev. Dr. Kyle Babin. Babin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Rice University, a Master of Music degree from Yale University with a certificate from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary. Immediately before accepting his call as rector in August 2020, Babin was a member of the clergy of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, an Anglo-Catholic parish in Philadelphia.

Art and architecture




Entrance and bell tower
Above the main (north) entrance to the church is a polychrome statue depicting the boy Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The crenellated bell tower contains bells playing the Cambridge Quarters, as well as ringing the Angelus and ringing before Mass; a bell elsewhere sounds during the eucharistic consecration. The chime of bells, donated in 1913, are playable from a console in the Lady Chapel. Ten of the bells are stationary; the largest (the 11th bell) can be swung.

Nave and stained glass
There is a hammerbeam roof. The nave comprises five bays and a clerestory, all with stained glass. In all, the building's stained glass includes 50 figurative windows and six ornamental windows.

Rood screen
A large carved wooden rood screen surmounted with a crucifixion separates the chancel from the nave. The screen, designed by Percy M. Fowler of Trenton, New Jersey, was added to the building in 1912. Its cast iron gates are by celebrated blacksmith Samuel Yellin (1884–1940).

Chancel
The chancel contains a decorated coffered ceiling.

High altar and reredos
The high altar is made of Caen stone and was installed in 1905. In 1929 the artist and parishioner George Fort Gibbs created seven paintings for the high altar's reredos as a memorial to his parents. The center panel is a Virgin and Child flanked by panels depicting other figures from the Christian era and Old Testament: Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Peter, King Saint Edward the Confessor (last king of the English House of Wessex), Moses, Aaron, and King David.

Lady chapel
There is a separate Lady chapel, dedicated in 1918, at the top of the south aisle. The space was originally a sacristy and choir room. The current limestone altar was installed in 1954. The tabernacle and triptych, as well as the carved double-desk, are by parishioner Davis d’Ambly and date from the 1980s. There is a carved Marian votive shrine in the chapel.

Baptistry
An octagonal baptistry with carved font and stained glass was added off the south side of the nave in 1932. The chandelier is by Samuel Yellin and the glazing and polychrome are by Valentine d’Ogries (1889–1959).

Stations of the Cross
The fourteen Stations of the Cross were painted between 1956 and 1962 by parishioner and local artist Constance LaBoiteaux Drake. Models for the male images ranged from the artist's sons, to lifeguards on Nantucket Island, students at Haverford College, and (for the Roman soldiers) Italian sailors aboard the SS Leonardo da Vinci. The stations are painted in tempera, on wood. The frames were made by Philip Jenney.

War memorial
The war memorial, created in 1942, honors parishioners who have served in the armed forces in and since World War II. It was installed at the urging of a parishioner, Lt. Gen. Milton Baker, who also established the nearby Valley Forge Military Academy and College.

Crypt
There is a columbarium and funerary chapel in the crypt of the church, along with a burial vault containing the remains of benefactor Harry Banks French and members of his family.

Memorial Garden
Adjacent to the church outside, there is a memorial garden for the interment of cremated remains.

Bell tower narthex (North door)

 * St. Alban

West wall

 * St. Michael and archangels

Clerestory Windows, Gospel Side

 * Fr. James Huntington, Order of the Holy Cross
 * Fr. Shirley Carter Hughson, Order of the Holy Cross
 * St. Francis of Assisi
 * St. Benedict of Nursia
 * Bishop Samuel Seabury
 * Bishop Jackson Kemper
 * St. Cuthbert of Northumbria
 * St. David of Wales
 * St. Patrick of Ireland
 * St. Anthony of Padua

Clerestory Windows, Epistle Side

 * St. Thomas of Canterbury
 * St. Margaret of Scotland
 * St. Bede
 * St. Hilda of Whitby
 * St. Hugh of Lincoln
 * St. Mildred of Kent
 * St. Oswald of Northumbria
 * St. Ursula
 * St. Dunstan of Canterbury
 * St. Bertha of Kent

Schedule
The church is open Monday through Friday for eucharistic adoration, and meditation. Masses are celebrated on Sunday at 8:00 am (Low Mass) and at 10:30 am (Sung High Mass). Separate children's and adult formation classes are held before and after Mass.

Morning Prayer is held on Monday to Saturday at 9:00 am and Evening Prayer on Monday to Friday at 5:30 pm.

Mass is also celebrated on Wednesdays, Fridays, and major holy days regardless of whether they fall on Wednesdays or Fridays.

Choral evensong with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is held throughout the year.



Practice
As at other high Church, Anglo-Catholic churches, worship and liturgy at Good Shepherd incorporate the later Catholic Revival's devotional and eucharistic practices:
 * Rite I of the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer (1979) is used for liturgies
 * A robust program of classical and traditional Anglican church music in English and Latin during worship (see ”External Links” below for examples posted on YouTube)
 * Elaborate eucharistic vestments
 * Eastward-facing orientation of the priest at the altar instead of the priest facing the people
 * Ringing of altar bells
 * Mixing of water with the sacramental wine
 * Use of incense during High Mass
 * Numerous altar candles
 * Multiple chancel lamps
 * Periodic benediction and exhibition of the host in a monstrance
 * Reservation of the Eucharist in a central tabernacle behind the high altar
 * Votive candles at various shrines in the church

Music program
Since January 2024, the parish organist and music director is Robert McCormick.

The choir comprises a professional core with auditioned volunteer singers. The choir sings weekly at the 10:30 High Mass on Sunday, and at special liturgies throughout the year, including Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, the solemn liturgies of Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. The choir offers a sung setting of the Mass on most Sundays and feast days ranging from Palestrina and Victoria to Stanford and Parry and the great English cathedral repertoire, as well as sacred music being written for the church today such as James MacMillan, Eriks Esenvalds, and local Philadelphia composers. The music program has a Choral Scholar Program for talented students from nearby colleges, including male and female choral scholars from, e.g., Bryn Mawr College, Villanova University, and Haverford College, to support them in their studies.

Organ
The organ at Good Shepherd is an Austin, Op. 2613 (1977), with three manuals and 57 ranks of pipes.

Rosemont Community Retreat House
The parish has an adjacent community retreat house, located in the renovated former rectory. Accommodations include seven guestrooms, three bathrooms, and two kitchens. Part of the parish's outreach is to serve and strengthen the Church by offering formation for parish musicians, clergy, seminarians, students of sacred music, and all who wish spiritual nourishment. The parish especially values the arts in relation to liturgy and spirituality. The retreat programs feature contemplative encounters with literature and visual art, as well as instrumental and choral music. In addition to “program” (multi-day) retreats and “day” (single-day) retreats, anyone is welcome who wishes to make an individual retreat in a peaceful setting where there is a regular rhythm of public prayer.

Main Line Early Music
The church is the venue for an annual early music series of concerts, including some of the region's finest early music ensembles, performing on period instruments.