Good Shepherd is delighted to announce that our new Rector, The Rev. Eleanor Applewhite Terry, starts on October 20, 2020. Her first Sunday will be October 25. Please join us for worship on the 25th, either in person in our parking lot or via zoom!

Ellie comes to us from Old North Church in Boston, where she was Associate Vicar and then Bridge Vicar. Her previous clergy positions include Vicar of a small parish in Plainfield, Connecticut and Associate Rector of an urban parish in Portland, Oregon. She received her M.Div. at Yale Divinity School and was ordained a priest in 2003. Her experiences have been varied, including serving in an Anglo-Catholic parish, involvement in a parish-based Celtic spiritual community, and several diocesan positions. Before her ordination she worked as a lay staff member of a social-justice oriented parish in Connecticut, where she focused on pastoral care and support of older members of the congregation.

Ellie, her husband Bronson, and their three children have lived in Acton for eight years. Ellie’s parents recently moved to Bedford from Connecticut, and Bronson’s family is still in Concord where he grew up, so this area is very much home to them. Coming to us during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellie faces special challenges getting to know us all. In addition to sharing the collection of autobiographies that many parishioners wrote to introduce themselves to Ellie, the Transition Team will be organizing Zoom meetings with all the different church groups and committees to help Ellie learn what our various ministries are and who is involved. We hope that everyone will take advantage of the opportunities to meet and talk with Ellie. We are very excited to welcome her to our parish!