About St. Patrick · Port Henry, New York
St. Patrick is a Roman Catholic parish located at 12 St. Patrick Place in the village of Port Henry, Essex County, New York. The parish is part of the Catholic Community of Moriah, a clustered group of parishes serving Port Henry and the surrounding towns of Moriah, Elizabethtown, and Westport under the pastoral care of Reverend Joseph W. Giroux and Deacon Paul White. It falls within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg and traces its roots to the Irish Catholic community that built the first Catholic church in the Port Henry area in 1852.
- Established
- 1852
- Patron
- St. Patrick
- Rector
- Reverend Joseph W. Giroux
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg
Why belong here
St. Patrick's offers an intimate Catholic community in the heart of Port Henry's historic Irish mining settlement on Lake Champlain, with Sunday Mass, weekday Masses, Monday Holy Hour with novena prayers and confession, and the close-knit pastoral care of a clustered multi-parish community serving the greater Moriah/Elizabethtown/Westport region. Whether you are a year-round resident of the Adirondack coast, a seasonal visitor to the lake, or a Catholic traveling through Essex County, the parish welcomes you to join in worship and fellowship rooted in more than 170 years of local Catholic tradition.
Mass times at St. Patrick
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Monday 8:30–9:30 AM (during Holy Hour)
Adoration times
- Monday 8:30–9:30 AM (Holy Hour with Novena Prayers; confessions offered)
Parish Identity and Community
St. Patrick's is the historic Catholic parish of Port Henry, New York, sitting on the western shore of Lake Champlain in Essex County. The parish is the original Catholic church of the Moriah area, built by Irish immigrants who arrived to work the local iron mines beginning in the 1840s. Today the parish shares pastoral leadership with the neighboring Catholic parishes of Mineville (Church of All Saints), Elizabethtown (St. Elizabeth), and Westport under the name 'Catholic Community of Moriah' (also styled the Catholic Parishes of Elizabethtown, Moriah & Westport).
- Worship site: St. Patrick's Church, 12 St. Patrick Place, Port Henry, NY 12974
- Mailing address: 12 St. Patrick Place, Port Henry, NY 12974
- Parish cluster: Catholic Community of Moriah
- Rite: Roman-Latin (Roman Catholic)
History
St. Patrick's was the first Catholic church established in the Port Henry/Moriah area, dedicated in 1852 to serve Irish Catholic families drawn to the region's booming iron mines. By the early 1880s the parish had become such a point of community pride that the Rev. John Talbot Smith described it as having 'no other to match it in the diocese, perhaps not in the state, for the quantities of beauty and fitness.' Through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, St. Patrick's remained the spiritual center of the Irish community while also serving Italian, Polish, and other immigrant Catholic families who settled in Port Henry. As the regional Catholic population grew, neighboring parishes were established — including Sts. Peter and Paul in Mineville (1870) and St. Michael's Polish Church (1910) — and St. Patrick's gradually narrowed its focus to the village of Port Henry.
- First Catholic church in Port Henry/Moriah, dedicated 1852
- Founded to serve Irish Catholic immigrants of the iron-mining era
- Praised by Rev. John Talbot Smith (early 1880s) for its beauty
- Later ministered to Italian, Polish, and other immigrant Catholic families
Clergy and Staff
The pastoral team of St. Patrick's is shared with the other Catholic parishes of the Moriah/Elizabethtown/Westport cluster. The mailing address, telephone, and email listed by the Diocese of Ogdensburg for St. Patrick's are also the contact points for the whole Catholic Community of Moriah.
- Pastor: Reverend Joseph W. Giroux
- Deacon: Paul White
- Parish Secretary (shared): reachable at [email protected]
- Telephone: (518) 546-7254
- Fax: (518) 375-3624
Catholic Community of Moriah (Cluster)
St. Patrick's is clustered with other historic parishes of Essex County, sharing a pastor and deacon. The cluster is administered under a single mailing address at the Port Henry parish office.
- St. Patrick's Church — Port Henry (12 St. Patrick Place)
- Church of All Saints — Mineville (23 Bartlett Pond Road, Mineville, NY 12956)
- St. Elizabeth Church — Elizabethtown (7482 Court Street, Elizabethtown, NY 12932)
- St. Mary's — Westport (cluster member)
- Cluster also referenced as 'Catholic Parishes of Elizabethtown, Moriah, & Westport'
Visit and Contact
Parishioners and visitors can reach St. Patrick's by mail, telephone, fax, or email using the contact information listed by the Diocese of Ogdensburg and on the cluster's website.
- Address: 12 St. Patrick Place, Port Henry, NY 12974
- Phone: (518) 546-7254
- Fax: (518) 375-3624
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://emwparishes.org