"I am not my own.  I have given myself to Jesus. He must be my only love."   St. Kateri Tekakwitha

   On October 8, 1952, Bishop John J. Wright founded a new parish and appointed Father Thomas J. O’Rourke as its pastor. On April 11, 1954, Mass was celebrated in the newly constructed church, which is now the parish hall. The first Mass in the present church was celebrated on April 14, 1963.

    Because the parish property is located on the site of a former Native American village, the parish was dedicated to the eight North American Martyrs, missionaries of the Society of Jesus who came from France to preach the Gospel to Native Americans in Canada and the Upstate New York region. The address number 8 commemorates the eight martyrs and the date of the Immaculate Conception feast day. Wyoma, the name of the street, was the word for the outstanding girl in each tribe, was later reserved among Christian Native Americans for the outstanding girl of all tribes — Mary, the Mother of God.

   The statue near the outside stairway to the church is Saint Kateri Tetakwitha, an Algonquin born about ten years after the death of Isaac Jogues and his companions. She is called the first fruit of the martyrs’ blood. She was canonized on October 21, 2012. As you enter the church, the statue to the left is that of Saint Isaac Jogues, the most famous of the North American Martyrs.  Currently, about 820 families make up the people of God in our parish.