By Tamara Tirado/Staff Photographer
St. Andrew Church celebrated its history and its parish community with a special Mass Sept. 4. The parishioners planned several special additions to the liturgy, including a Communion processional and liturgical dance. One of the more memorable moments came at the very end of the Mass when everyone gathered on the front steps of the church for a blessing and a dove release. When the time came, the dove was let go and flew back and forth over the crowd and then perched itself on the door frame of the church. It was trained to fly back to its home only a few blocks away, but instead stayed put in that spot. A woman standing next to me said, “That bird doesn’t want to leave the church, just like us,” referring to the church’s future closing. I followed the crowd back into the church to gather some names during refreshments, and as I left the church — a good 30 minutes after the dove had been released — I took this picture of it still sitting there.
