Grace Church was founded on Ascension Day in 1837 at the behest of Bishop George Washington Doane.

As part of what is today called the Oxford Movement, Grace's founders emphasized the sacramental worship and succession of bishops of the Episcopal Church as their direct link to Christ, the Apostolic community and its Eucharistic worship – a sister to the Roman Catholic Church.

[7] Grace uses an Anglo-Catholic, sacramental liturgy, or order of service, at the center of which, in the tradition of the Church as said to be handed down from the Apostles, is the Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion or the Mass.

Grace teaches the Catholic faith, holding that Christians gain access to the mystical body of Christ through the sacramental worship of the community and are aided by the sequential liturgy, incense, and Eucharistic sacrifice to an experience of heaven.

The parish follows Catholic faith and practice in The Episcopal Church, but accepts the ordination of women and affirmation of same-sex marriage.

Grace holds choir concerts and organ recitals on the 48-stop tracker instrument built by Casavant Frères in 1990.