St. Mary’s is the fifth-oldest parish in Queens and one of the oldest in the Greater Metropolitan area, going back to the days of the first beach resorts in the New York City area.
According to Sharp’s History of the Diocese of Brooklyn, the first Catholic Mass was celebrated in Far Rockaway in 1847.
By 1850 summer Masses were celebrated in a tent for the burgeoning summer crowd. Thus, the history of Catholic life in Far Rockaway is older than the Diocese of Brooklyn itself, which was established in 1853.