In 1894, when Northport was a tiny village serving as a port for marine traffic on busy Long Island Sound and a vacation spot for city dwellers, Reverend Maurice Fitzgerald founded a new parish and built a church on the corner of Main and Church Streets. He named the Church in honor of St. Philip Neri on whose Feast day, May 26th, Father Fitzgerald was ordained in Rome in 1888.

In its beginning, St. Philips served the spiritual needs of a community of mixed ethnic groups - German, Italian, Irish, and Polish Families, many of whom worked in the local industry of sand mining or on the surrounding farms. As parishioner numbers swelled and their needs grew, the Parish expanded, especially in the field of Catholic education.

The Parish school was established in 1926 under the direction of the Sisters of St. Joseph, helping to shape the hearts and minds of generations of Parish children until 1992, when regionalization of the Catholic schools became effective in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. At that time, the students joined other students at Catholic schools in the vicinity at the newly formed Trinity Regional School located at  the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, East Northport. 

The rectory is the same one in which Father Fitzgerald and his successors have lived over the decades. Similarly, the convent is the same one the Sisters of St. Joseph established when the school opened in 1924. However, a new Church was constructed in 1970 on the original site of the first Church.

What used to be a summertime vacation spot has become a year-round residence of a hugely expanded population, many of whom work in the metropolitan area and in the business and industrial centers located all over Long Island. To better serve the Parish community, one of the two buildings that comprised the former school was converted in the Parish Center in 2002. The renovated Parish Center now includes the Daniel J. Trant Memorial Gymnasium, all of the Parish offices, and a variety of meeting rooms. Many of the Parish social events now take place in the renovated center.

In August of 2020, with the retirement of Rev. Msgr. Peter Dooley, Rev. Stephen Pietrowski, who was serving as the Pastor of  Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in neighboring Centerport, was asked by Bishop John Barres, the Diocesan Bishop of Rockville Centre, to assume the  pastorate of St. Philips, while remaining the pastor of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. St. Philips and Our Lady Queen of Martyrs share a long associated history in that Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, had for many years been a chapel, falling under the jurisdiction of St. Philips till its establishment as a separate parish in 1966. A shared pastorate ensures that both parishes continue to operate as separate canonical parishes while sharing the Pastor and any clergy assigned to serve under him. 

The following is an excerpt from a New York Times article dated November 8, 1894:
NORTHPORT, L.I., Nov. 8 - There is now building here a new Roman Catholic church, to be known as the church of St. Philip of Neri. The edifice will be of wood, with a tiled roof. It will have a seating capacity of about five hundred. The style is Gothic. Its dimensions are 150 by 50 feet. One feature seldom found in a country church, will be a privileged altar. This is an altar upon which the Pope's blessing has been invoked. The pews, confessionals, windows, stations of the cross, and other necessary furniture have been secured. So there will be no needless delay in beginning services when the church is completed. The windows will all be of fine stained glass. The location of the church is in the most flourishing portion of the village, and the site, which covers three or four building lots, is valued at $4,000.00

“In giving alms to the poor we must act as good ministers of the Providence of God.”