At St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Kendall, wood panels still cover a window and the black ash from the fire is still evident.

But at a Mass on Sunday marking the church's 40th anniversary, the congregation looked forward to the rebuilding of the church.

Parishioners placed 40 bricks, representing each of the church's years, in a cross and laid flowers on top.

The bricks will be used in the new construction.

''We've had our ups and downs,'' said the Rev. Juan Sosa. ``The fire prevented us from being in the church space . . . It was an inconvenience to our people, but the church is not the building but the people.''

The rebuilding efforts will take more than a year.

Archbishop John C. Favalora led the Mass to celebrate the anniversary and spoke about the rebuilding efforts, later blessing the bricks.

Pictures of the damage from the March blaze at the church at 9200 SW 107th Ave. sit on a poster in the outdoor plaza, part of the area where parishioners have been worshipping since.

Surveillance video captured two teenagers, a 14-year-old and 15-year-old, entering the church and then a fire starting as they left. State prosecutors eventually dropped charges against the teens, saying there was not enough evidence in the case.

After the fire, ''We gathered together and we're making the best of the circumstances,'' said parishioner Ana Vaskrsich of Kendall, sitting in a seat in the plaza area. ``It gives people a purpose and an understanding of what it takes to rebuild.''

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@