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Our Parish was founded on December 8th, 1954, the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. It was the last of the "Marian Year" parishes founded in the Archdiocese. The formal announcement came in May 1955, when Archbishop John O'Hara fixed the location of the new parish at Roosevelt Blvd. and Unruh Street. It would help relieve the fast growing neighboring parishes of St. Martin, St. Timothy, St. Matthew and Resurrection of Our Lord. The founding pastor was Rev. Paul G. Larkin, and he celebrated the first Mass on June 12, 1955 in the Castor Movie Theater, then located at 6631 Castor Avenue. Parish meetings took place at Vitale's Restaurant still located at Bustleton Avenue and St. Vincent St. On October 30, 1955 a groundbreaking took place for a combined school and church, which was the norm for those days. A convent and rectory were also built. The parishioners were like the "Homesteaders" of old and pitched in to help complete the work. On September 6, 1956, Our Lady of Ransom School opened, staffed by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Later that year, the parish obtained the land at north end of the property when Cook's Ice Cream Parlor closed. Finally, on December 8, 1956 the first Mass was celebrated in the new Church. The original boundaries of the parish grew twice, in September, 1961 and July, 1969 as families relocated to Northeast Philadelphia. Within this time frame, as more growth was anticipated, on September 24, 1966 ground was broken for a new Church building. But, it would not be just another Church building, for the design of the new Church was in conformance with new rules promulgated by decisions made at Vatican II. And on December 8, 1967, Cardinal Krol dedicated our new, round, worhsip site. Father Larkin died on January 8, 1973 leaving a legacy of hard work and service to his people. He knew how to get things done. He was succeeded by Msgr. .James Dolan, who was installed on March 12, 1973. He maintained the course established by Father Larkin and was most loved. He died in 1982 and Msgr. John Jagodzinski was named administrator. In 1984, Rev. Joseph Devlin was named pastor until his retirement in 1993. Rev. William F. McGeown was the Pastor of the parish from May 1993 until June 2007. During his years as pastor, Fr. McGeown was a true shepherd for the people, caring for the spiritual and temporal needs of the parish. Our current Pastor, Rev. T. Christopher Redcay was installed as the fourth Pastor of Our Lady of Ransom on June 30, 2007.
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