SERVICES SUNDAY AT 10:30 AM 

The Rev. Dr. Mary Grace DuPree will start her journey at Good Shepherd on January 5, 2025, becoming the 12th priest to serve the parish since the church's inception in 1950.

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Before she was called to ministry, Mother Mary Grace was a teacher. She has taught Latin at Pace Academy and the Westminster Schools, Religion at Georgia State University, and Ancient and Medieval History as a visiting professor at Emory University. She has served at St. Benedict’s in Smyrna and St. Clement’s in Canton, and she was raised for ordination by her home parish of St. James in Marietta. For the last few months she has been traveling the diocese as part of her work chairing the Bishop’s Task Force on Disability Justice, and this work has
allowed her to visit parishes large and small throughout the diocese, both rural and urban, and to get a sense of the true breadth and cultural richness of our diocese.

She is an Associate of the Sisters of St. Mary in Sewanee, an Episcopal order of nuns, and she loves to make retreats at the convent whenever she can.

Most of all, she loves to talk to people about the transformative power of the love of Jesus Christ, and she can’t wait to share in the joy of that love with everyone at Good Shepherd. Mother Mary Grace will be ordained to the priesthood at St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta on Saturday, December 14, and all of Good Shepherd is invited to attend and celebrate with her!

The Rev. Canon Cynthia Hizer started her journey at Good Shepherd in 1992 as a parishioner.

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At that time she was a food writer, cookbook author and organic farmer. She organized an organic farmers’ cooperative to Atlanta chefs and in 1992 was named the first Land Steward of the Year by the Georgia Organics Association.

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From Good Shepherd she was called into the ministry and has served the church since then. She is retired as Canon of Development in the Episcopal Church of Navajoland (ECN), as a missioner of the National Church. In Navajoland she served as Vicar of the historic mission church, wrote grants and started businesses for self-empowerment, food justice and financial sustainability.

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She and her spouse Margaret donated their successful handmade soap business to ECN, rebranded as SHIMA of Navajoland.

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Cynthia is married to Margaret Putnam, who is Canon of Administration and Assistant to the Bishop of Navajoland. Cynthia has one son, Andrew, who passed away in 2020. She has returned to her farm outside of Covington. She is a spiritual director and meditation leader.