Bryn Mawr 100: Church of the Good Shepherd

The Church of the Good Shepherd, a traditional Anglican Catholic parish on Lancaster Avenue, has been serving congregants in Bryn Mawr and beyond since 1869. It's the "beyond" that Rector Reverend David Moyer takes particular pride in.

"People come from Coatesville, Center City, Chestnut Hill, Wilmington, Delaware—we have an extraordinarily eclectic parish," Moyer, who's led the church for 21 years, told Patch. "We did a poll once and learned the average person comes to mass from 30 minutes away."

Moyer added that his well-traveled congregation is as diverse socioeconomically as it is geographically.

"To me, it's the most economically diverse Episcopal church on the Main Line," Moyer said.

Moyer takes no small amount of pride in this potpourri aspect of his parish. He cites the Anglican prayer book's mandate to offer counsel to "all sorts and conditions of man"—a mandate it's apparent they've satisfied.

The Rector reasons that the best explanation for his church's wide appeal, for the various sorts and conditions it attracts, is the nature of its mass. While many Protestant churches have more informal Sunday services, Good Shepherd hews more closely to the ritualized Catholic mass tradition.

"We have more devotions to Mary, more use of incense, and (we) use the full ritual. (The parishioners) come here for the Anglo-Catholic liturgical tradition," Moyer said.

It's a tradition the church has upheld since it was founded in 1869 on the plot of land that now houses Villanova University's football field. The parish celebrated its early years there—during which time it opened and operated Home and Hospital of the Good Shepherd, then the only hospital on the Main Line—before pharmaceutical mogul Harry French offered, in 1892, to build a new church as a memorial to his recently deceased wife. The church accepted French's offer, and two years later celebrated its first mass in the only home it has known since.

It has no designs on moving anytime soon. Neither does its Rector.

"I think a lot about what that means—what it is to be a good shepherd, to lead people, to be a rock for them," said Moyer. "I've been here long enough that I'm starting to marry people that I've baptised.

"I try to be a good shepherd," he added.

Editor's Note: This is the ninth in a . Check back with Bryn Mawr-Gladwyne Patch for more profiles leading up to the Sept. 10 celebration.