St. Mary Catholic Church in Henrietta is the third oldest parish in the Diocese of Fort Worth established in 1879.

The first St. Mary Church was established in the town of Cambridge, located two miles east of Henrietta. The church was a mission church under the direction of St. Mary’s at Gainesville TX. Missionary priest would travel the circuit from Galveston to minister to the church’s parishioners.

In 1882 after Henrietta was designated as the county seat for Clay county the priest and some of the parishioners from Henrietta petitioned the Diocese to move the church from Cambridge to Henrietta. With the help of the Catholic settlers and eighteen yokes of oxen hitched to the church it was moved into Henrietta.

In 1900 the second St. Mary Church was built on land donated to the church which is now the location of the present church. In 1950 this church was torn down and a new church was built in its place. At that time the rectory was also built along with the church. The parishioners also submitted a proposal to he Diocese to build a parish hall. It was not until 1979 that the hall was built.

The church remained under the Galveston Diocese until July of 1980, when the Diocese of Dallas was established and then in 1969 when the Diocese of Fort Worth was established, St. Mary became a part of the Fort Worth Diocese.

After the change in the Diocese, in 1989 the parish hall was built. In 2006 the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who managed the Bethania Hospital in Wichita Falls gifted the Holy Family Altar from the hospital chapel to St. Mary. The altar was refurbished and placed in the existing church. In June of 2018 new stained-glass windows were installed, completing the building plans for the Church.

St. Mary Catholic Church now exists due to the devotion and diligent faith of the pioneer settlers and their current existing families and the dedication of the priests over the years assigned to the parish.