The Parish That Grew Alongside the City
As Doral was beginning to establish itself as one of South Florida’s fastest-growing communities, a small Catholic mission was also taking its first steps. What began to serve the spiritual needs of families of the emerging municipality is today the Parish and Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a place of pilgrimage that welcomes thousands of people every week and that, like the city itself, has grown without losing its essence.
It was a long journey before having a permanent home. The Doral mission of Blessed Trinity Parish was established as Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Doral on September 1, 2001, with the late Monsignor Tomás Marín as its first pastor. For nearly 15 years, Catholics in Doral moved from school to school to celebrate Sunday Masses and hold catechism classes in their facilities, until the parish church they enjoy today was consecrated on December 12, 2015.
Twenty-five years after its founding as a parish, Guadalupe has more than 12,000 registered families. “People feel happy and proud to belong to this parish,” says Father Israel Mago, pastor of the community…