About Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Tallahassee, Florida:
The Rev. Edward A. Kirby spent much of the fall of 1972 recruiting Catholics for the newly created Good Shepherd Parish. That door-to-door effort turned up 34 families. They celebrated their first Holy Mass as the Good Shepherd Parish on January 28, 1973 in the Great Hall of Maclay School on North Meridian Road.
hen Bishop Rene H. Gracida approved plans for Good Shepherd church building late in 1975, Fr. O’Sullivan and the Good Shepherd Parish Council decided the most practical approach would be to erect a building to serve liturgical, recreational and social needs during the growth period. Groundbreaking for the multipurpose “Little Brown Church in the Vale” took place January 4, 1976. On July 27 of that year a Mass of Dedication was held for a congregation that now numbered 110 families..
At that time, the building’s 425-seat capacity easily handled weekend Masses and social events consistent with its stated purpose. Chairs would permanently substitute for traditional pews and kneelers, because of the long-range planned use of the building. The tabernacle area was conveniently recessed to form a permanent chapel.
Meanwhile, extra weekend Masses and parish activities continued to strain the limits of the once spacious building. By 1982, Fr. Foley and the Parish Council made the inevitable decision to construct a church building, as much to accommodate an accelerating number of regularly scheduled functions, meetings, and classroom needs as to host services for the 650-family parish population. Tallahassee had grown tremendously and there was a definite need for more space.
A new church building was dedicated on April 5, 1986. In 1990, Good Shepherd membership had reached 1,060 families. The Religious Education program had reached 480 (400 in Kindergarten through 8th grade and 80 high schoolers). By 1993, Good Shepherd Parish had grown to 1,400 families. There were 600 in Kindergarten through 8th grade Religious Education Program and 100 high schoolers in the Youth Group.
July 2, 1998 marked the beginning of construction for the new Parish Center, church expansion and new parking areas. Construction was completed in November 1999 and Bishop Ricard dedicated the Parish Center and church expansion on January 30, 2000. As of August 2016 Good Shepherd had grown to more than 3,000 families.
Traveling to Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Tallahassee, Florida:
Address: 4665 Thomasville Rd, Tallahassee, FL 32309
Click here for the official website of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Tallahassee, Florida