It was in 1862 that Father Joseph Roesch, an Austrian priest who had been appointed the first resident pastor of Saint Mary's Church in Obernburg (1854), built the first Catholic Church in Narrowsburg. It was called the Church of Saint Francis Xavier, in honor of the famed Jesuit missionary. He also built churches in Ellenville, French Settlement, and Jeffersonville. 

About 1875, Father Gerald Huntmann, the first resident pastor at Callicoon, assumed the spiritual and temporal care of a group of parishes that extended the length of the Delaware Valley, from Port Jervis to Long Eddy. In 1878 Father Huntmann built a new church to accommodate a growing number of Catholics. Family names associated with the early days of the church in Narrowsburg were Engelmann, Gebhart, Botens, Kirk, Koferl, McHugh, Moran, Rinn, Smith, and Welsh. In 1892, Archbishop Corrigan of New York asked the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province (NY) to takeover the territory in which Father Huntmann had attended while working in the region. 

With the establishment of Saint Joseph's Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon (1901) more and more Franciscans Friars were able to serve the various communities in Sullivan County. By the early 1920s, the Narrowsburg congregation had grown threefold necessitating a new and larger church. In 1925, His Eminence Patrick Cardinal Hayes of New York dedicated the present church. On June 14, 1932, Father Cassian Kirk, O.F.M. became the first native son of the area to be ordained to the priesthood in the Franciscan Order. Sharing the joy of his First Solemn Mass was an aunt, Sister Teresita of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, who became the first girl from Narrowsburg to enter the religious life (1892). In 2012, we celebrated our 150th anniversary of our Church.

Though the Franciscan Friars had served the Cochecton-Lake Huntington community since the late 19th century, it was only in 1920 that Father Sylvester Herold, O.F.M. built the present church. The official title of the church is Stella Maris, but it has always been better known as Our Lady of the Lake, a name well suited to the site, about 200 yards from the lake. Franciscan Friars from Saint Joseph Seminary in Callicoon were assigned to take care of the church. In 1959, Saint Francis Xavier Church in Narrowsburg was made an independent parish with several missions, including Our Lady of the Lake.