The nave comprises five bays and a clerestory 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 was added to the church in 1912. Its gates are by celebrated blacksmith Samuel Yellin.
There is a separate Lady Chapel entered at the top of the south aisle, dedicated in 1918. 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.
Baptistry
An octagonal baptistry with carved font and stained glass was added off the south side of the church in 1932. The chandelier is by Samuel Yellin, and the glazing and polychrome are by Valentine d'Ogries.
War Memorial
The 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 parishioner Lt. Gen. Milton Baker, who also established the nearby Valley Forge Military Academy and College.
Crypt
There is a columbarium and small funerary chapel in the crypt of the church, along with a vault containing the coffins of benefactor Harry Banks French and members of his family.
Worship
The church building is open each day of the week for visits and meditation. Good Shepherd holds services on Sunday at 8:00 am and at 10:30 am. Evening prayer is held Monday through Friday at 5:30 pm. shrine at Good Shepherd. The original shrine in England was suppressed in 1538 during the English Reformation, but devotion to her was revived in the 19th century by Anglo-Catholics As at other High Church, Anglo-Catholic churches, worship at Good Shepherd incorporates the later Catholic Revival's devotional and eucharistic practices:
A robust program of classical and traditional Anglican church music in English and Latin during worship.
Good Shepherd is the publisher of the Anglican Service Book, which it uses in its worship services. The book is an Anglo-Catholic version of the Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church.
Music program
The organist and choirmaster is Matthew Glandorf, a graduate of and faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music. 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, with three manuals and 57 ranks of pipes.
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 was on the North side of Lancaster Avenue, just east of the present football stadium of Villanova University. Through a donation of $27,000 from parishioner Harry Banks French of the Smith, Kline & French company, the present church building was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm of Baily & Truscott, and constructed between 1893 and 1894 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.
Good Shepherd Hospital
The parish set up Good Shepherd Hospital in the 1870s, originally to care for children whose parents could not afford to give them medical services. In 1903 the name was changed to the Home and Hospital of the Good Shepherd, and in 1915 admissions were restricted to boys between 7 and 14. The Hospital was conducted as a parochial institution until June 1922 when it merged with the Church Farm School, an Episcopal Church institution farther west in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Move from Radnor to Rosemont
The original church building near Villanova was in use for about 20 years. It had been informally intended to be, in part, a memorial to two distinguished Episcopal bishops. A window honoring the bishops was installed in the church. In the 1890s, the vestry decided to move to a more spacious location in neighboring Rosemont, Pennsylvania, and received the donation from Harry Banks French to erect what is today the church building.
