German speaking Catholic immigrants traveling west on the new Erie Canal in the 1820's built their first house of worship at the present corner of Kirkville Road and Schepp's Corner Road in 1834. A full-size church built in 1837 at the same spot, with continual additions and improvements, served the Catholic population of the area until it burnt down in 1881. During this "missionary period" of the parish, the sacramental needs of the people were taken care of by German-speaking priests who traveled on horseback to various parishes; sometimes staying at St. Mary's for a period of time allowing the people to have a resident priest. Between 1834 and 1881, these first parishioners were able to build a Church, Rectory, and School and also provide a Parish Cemetery beginning at the corner around the Church and expanding in 1867 to the present higher ground in the village.

Within two years of the fire of 1881, the people built a new Church at the same Kirkville Road corner. At that point, the Syracuse Diocese asked the Conventual Franciscan Friars to assume the pastoral care of the parish. The parish continued to grow, with additional families coming from the farming families as well as those brought to the area seeking work in the railroad yards of the New York Central.

The early 1920's brought a major change in parish life. The village Hall (formerly a school) on Main Street was purchased and moved to a lot on Dorothy Street, where it served as a Parish Hall until its demolition in 1987. The Church was relocated from the corner to its present site, and the house at Dorothy and Main became a Friary for the Franciscans and site of the parish offices. Thus things remained until 1940 when fire once again destroyed the Church building.

The legendary Fr. Norbert, who served as pastor for twenty-eight years, build the present church, the Lourdes Shrine on Main Street, and St. Mary's School. These building shave all served our people well as places of worship, centers for religious education, Teen and Adult ministry, sacramental and social outreach. With the close of St. Mary's School in 1986, St. Mary's Parish Offices were moved into the old convent end of the building and the remainder of the space is used for various Parish programs.

Challenging our parishioners to "get involved" with their faith, St. Mary's has been the cradle for a pantry and Social Outreach program which is now ecumenical in scope and the "Teen-Center" for youth, which is now Village sponsored. We continue to build a solid spiritually backed, lay-involved ministry, to enable us to keep ministering to the needs of the people in the Minoa/Kirkville region.