The high altar at Christmas. See more photos below.
It all started when…
The parish began in 1858 as a mission of Incarnation Church on Madison Avenue. Our first building was in a rented storefront on Second Avenue near East 28th Street. Two years later, land on East 31 Street were purchased and a church built. The foundation of the current building was laid in 1902 and the new church was consecrated on December 7, 1904. (The architect was Henry Vaughan, who designed the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.)
The parish became the Church of the Good Shepherd on June 21, 1963.
Click here for the American Guild of Organists (New York City Chapter) to read the full history of the parish and about the details of the organs that we have had.
Read about the history of the Kips Bay neighborhood here.
The chancel of Good Shepherd, with the east window, high altar and table altar. The pulpit is on the left. The central panes of the east window above the high altar depict the Nativity of Christ; the surrounding panes depict apostles, saints, and angels. The statues below the window are Christ and the four evangelists (SS. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). More photos below show our font, the columbarium (containing urns with the ashes of deceased loved ones), the west window of Christ the Good Shepherd, a requiem Mass in our Lady Chapel, and the sacrament light above the Blessed Sacrament chapel.
