Friday, March 5 @ 12:15 PM - The Praying of the Great Litany (online only)

Friday, March 5 @ 9:00 PM - Office of Compline (online only)

Sunday, March 7 @ 8:30 AM or 10:00 AM - Sunday Holy Eucharist (Lent 3)

Tuesday, March 9 @ 12:15 PM - Service of Midday Prayer (online only)

Wednesday, March 10 @ 12:15 PM - Service of Midday Prayer (online only)

Friday, March 12 @ 12:15 PM - Praying of the Great Litany (online only)

Friday, March 12 @ 9:00 PM - Office of Compline (online only)

Sunday, March 14 @ 8:30 AM or 10:00 AM - Sunday Holy Eucharist (Lent 4)

Tuesday, March 16 @ 12:15 PM - Service of Midday Prayer (online only)

Wednesday, March 17 @ 12:15 PM - Service of Midday Prayer (online only)

Wednesday, March 17 @ 6:30 PM - St. Patrick's Day Service

NOTE: The GSC TV-GUIDE will be in your email box on Friday morning. It will include the online schedule of worship services with links to each live-streamed service for the upcoming week.

On Tuesday, March 2, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced very good news. Beginning Wednesday, March 3, Louisiana will return to Phase 3 of COVID-19 restrictions. Louisiana last moved to Phase 3 in September 2020, but then returned to Phase 2 in November 2020 because of increased hospitalizations due to a resurgence in corona virus positivity rates.

What does Phase 3 mean for Louisiana?

A summary of changes include:

• Most businesses, including restaurants and salons, will move from 50% capacity to 75% capacity
• Indoor gatherings and events (e.g., theaters, arenas, etc.) will cap at 50% or 250 persons
• Gyms will remain at 50% capacity
• Bars will be allowed to reopen for indoor service at up to 25% capacity and must continue to end alcohol sales at 11:00 PM nightly
  
• Houses of Worship will no longer have any capacity constraints, however the mask mandate continues to be in effect and social distancing continues to be strongly recommended

What does Phase 3 mean for Good Shepherd Church?

In an email communication sent to Bishop Clark at the Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast, and CC'd to the Good Shepherd Church Council, Fr. Randall+ has stated that at this time, nothing will change with regard to how GSC is responding to the pandemic.

• GSC will continue to rope off every other pew, effectively keeping our sanctuary capacity at 50%.
• We will continue to encourage parishioners to take advantage of attending our smaller worship gathering at 8:30 on Sunday mornings as an alternative to the more robustly attended 10:00 AM service.
  
• Worshipers will continue to be encouraged to sit in household clusters and clusters will continue to be encouraged to distance from others at 6 feet.
• Masks will continue to be required at all events, including worship services and may only be removed in the chancel area while speaking or reading at the pulpit or lectern, or by congregants when receiving Holy Communion.
  
  

Please continue to pray for our church, our local community, our state, our nation, and the world as we begin to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel of this global pandemic.

The March edition of the Shepherd's Voice Newsletter is now available. You may download a pdf copy from our website or pick up a hard copy in the narthex of the church.

If you would like to submit an article for the April newsletter, please email your article to Fr. Randall+ by noon, Monday, March 22.

The Good Shepherd Church Lasagna Lunch is this Sunday, February 28 from noon until 1:30 PM. Adult plates are $12 and children's plates (age 10 and under) are $8. As this article goes to press, their are only a handful of tickets still available for sale. If you would like a ticket, please contact Mel Aucoin or the church office. 

The lasagna will be served in a "curbside pick up" manner only. GSC parishioners can pick up their orders after the 10:00 AM worship service. Others may begin picking up orders at noon.

In case you hadn't heard, this lunch dish promises to be extra yummy as it is being made to the strict specifications of Ms. Marie's recipe. We are blessed that Ms. Maria's memory and culinary skills live on through our church!

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our pet food collection weekend a great success. As Texas was recovering from historic winter weather and their power and water was coming back online, grocery stores were reopening with food on the shelves, except for pet food.

Chef Amy Sins, a friend of Good Shepherd Church, and no stranger to disaster relief called on GSC to collect pet food on Saturday and Sunday, February 20-21. The outpouring of support was incredible!

On Monday morning, a crew from Chef Amy's disaster relief force stopped by Good Shepherd Church on their way to Texas and brought food, water, and YES, PET FOOD to the Lone Star State!

If you would like to submit an article for the March edition of the Shepherd's Voice Newsletter, it's not too late. Please email you article to Fr. Randall no later than noon on Friday, February 26.

By D.J. Estopinal

Good Shepherd Church, being a well-established church for many years, has very few “first” these days. The last “first” that I can remember is the establishment of our Youth Acolyte program for Sunday morning church service several years ago.

On Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at 1;30 P. M., Good Shepherd Church had another first.

Father Randall Graf conducted the first Service of the Holy Eucharist outside in our beautiful Prayer Garden. This communion service was held for church members who do not feel comfortable attending the normally scheduled inside the church sanctuary services because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In attendance for this first Service of the Holy Eucharist was Ms. Sandy Graci, Mr. Danny Pianovich, Mrs. Rebecca Estopinal and D. J. Estopinal. Father Graf conducted a beautiful service and gave everyone in attendance holy communion.

If you are unable to attend a typical, Sunday, indoor Holy Eucharist, please contact Fr. Randall to make arrangements to be included in an outdoor, socially distanced, mask-required Prayer Garden Holy Eucharist.

On Sunday, February 28, Good Shepherd Church will hold a Lasagna Lunch Fundraiser. Please help up make this fundraiser a great success by advance selling tickets to your friends, neighbors, family, and coworkers!

Each lunch is only $12 for an adult and $8 for children age 10 and under. Lunches will only be offered as “to go” orders which can be picked up curbside in the church parking lot between noon and 1:30 PM. (Good Shep-herd Church members will be able to pick up their advanced ticket sale orders a bit earlier
than noon if they so choose to try to beat the rush.)

You can pick up your own tickets and tickets to sell by seeing Margaret or Mel Aucoin! And by the way, the recipe for this meal is the exact recipe of Good Shepherd Church’s very own Ms. Maria! Bon Appetit!

The February edition of the Shepherd's Voice Newsletter is available in hard copy in the narthex of the church as well as online as a digital download. Get your copy today!