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On Sunday, October 22, 2023, The Shrine of Fatima and St. Cajetan would like to invite members of the Catholic community in Hernando County and the surrounding areas to our annual picnic starting at noon, following our 10 a.m. High Mass. This celebration is a dedication to honor our Shrine’s Patron Saint, St. Cajetan. Please be our guests and enjoy a catered lunch, drinks, games (Horseshoes and Cornhole) and a children’s bouncy house. The church is located just off of Highway 19 at 10360 Atlanta Ave, Weeki Wachee, Florida 34614. This year, we have formed a new board of directors, refurbished the kneelers and carpet, continued to grow the congregation and most importantly, aligned ourselves with CMRI. Please come to our celebration and meet the new priests and sisters; they are new to Florida and very interested in meeting you and your family.
Our Shrine is a historical and iconic Traditional Catholic Church complete with beautiful statues, stained glass, sculpture and a Traditional Roman Catholic Latin Mass. Our parishioners are a talented and ethnically diverse group. We invite interested parties to visit and consider joining our church. We especially welcome families with children. Our church began in 1985 and sits on 25 acres of land between Hernando and Citrus Counties. It was founded by Father Bonet who arrived in Hernando County in 1985, driving his yellow school bus. He found the property, raised the money and built the church from the ground up with total conviction of his dream to build a “City of Mary,” including a rectory, a school, a cemetery and an Assisted Living Facility for the surrounding community. It became the first Traditional Catholic Church in Central Florida!
The Shrine offers a Traditional Roman Catholic Latin Mass. This is not because we are old-fashioned and prefer the reverent atmosphere of the ancient liturgy to that of the more casual services, but we act in obedience to past infallible teachings of the Traditional Roman Catholic Church. Happily, we have achieved some of Father Bonet’s original goals which include a rectory, a Catholic cemetery and an Assisted Living Facility that will open by the end of this year!
Since Father Bonet’s death, we have kept to these traditions and are now affiliated with CMRI (The Religious Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen) whose Bishop is Mark A. Pivarunas. CMRI follows a similar dream for their new venture in Florida to provide a sanctuary for Catholics who believe in the Traditional Roman Catholic Mass and to provide kindness and support in the community while saving souls. Their devotion to Our Lady of Fatima is deeply shared and their goals are very similar to those of Father Bonet. CMRI’s history began in 1967, in Couer d’Alene, Idaho as an association of lay brothers and sisters devoted to spreading the message of Our Lady of Fatima. The congregation continued its efforts through the years up to July of 1986, when they established themselves at Mount St. Michael in Spokane, Washington. From there, they expanded their original mission to establishing missions and schools both here and internationally. At present, we are pleased to have two priests assigned to our parish, Father Carlos Zepeda and Father Matias Chimenton. Future plans include building a school for Catholic youth with education provided by teaching sisters here at this location. For those who are interested, Father Zepeda hosts https://thecatholicwire.org/ on YouTube. CMRI now has over one hundred churches both in Unites States and abroad. The goal of both CMRI and our church is to preserve the Roman Catholic Faith by maintaining everything taught and done by the Church prior to Vatican II. The Traditional Latin Mass safeguards the Catholic Faith. Pope Pius XII taught that the sacred liturgy is intimately bound up in the truths of the Catholic Faith and therefore must conform to and reflect these truths. So, they have always carefully protected the text of the Mass in order to prevent doctrinal errors from creeping into the liturgy. The Traditional Roman Catholic Latin Mass is then, a perfect expression of the unchanging truths of the Catholic Church.
Our priests are not just validity-ordained priests who provide the sacraments to their congregation, they want to know you in order to save your soul and provide you with a way to navigate this new world we live in. They talk and listen to their parishioners no matter the hour. They will never turn away a member of the church who wants to speak to them. Come to our celebration and meet them, they are truly special. We look forward to meeting you.
