Photo by St. Lawrence Photography Ministry 

LAWRENCEVILLE—Peter Uwechue knelt in silent prayer with the Blessed Sacrament on the altar.  

It was Tuesday morning, the first chance the longtime St. Lawrence parishioner, along with others, could pause and take in the new eucharistic chapel just days after Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., blessed it.  

Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., blesses the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel at St. Lawrence Church Jan. 23, as altar server Yuliana Aquino, left, and Father Gerardo Ceballos Gonzalez offer prayers. The chapel’s construction was phase one of a three-part project to accommodate growth at the parish and reflects increased devotion to adoration. Photo by Wendell Tumale/St. Lawrence Photography Ministry

“I was very pleased, very elated. As a matter of fact, I saw snippets of the space when they were working on it. I didn’t think it would turn out to be as beautiful as it is now. The crucifix in there was the first thing that caught my attention,” he said.  

For the first time, St. Lawrence Church has a dedicated chapel for adoration. Named the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel, it is open five days a week, 12 hours a day, as a place set aside instead of a shared space.  

On Jan. 23, parishioners filled the church’s 800 seats as Archbishop Hartmayer blessed the new chapel. He also consecrated a new altar in the sanctuary using holy water and sacred chrism, the oil used at baptisms, confirmations and ordinations.  

“Today we stand at a threshold moment in the life of this community—a moment when heaven touches earth when the eternal breaks into time, when the promises of God find new dwelling among us,” said the archbishop.  

As part of the ritual, parishioners carried forward to the archbishop relics of three saints, St. John the Baptist, St. John Vianney and a collection of relics from various apostles and saints, which were placed in the altar. Candles were lit to signify Jesus as the light of the world. Decorative flowers adorned the altar as a sign of God’s goodness. 

“May (this altar) stand for generations as a witness of faith, a monument to divine love, a beacon of hope in every age,” said the archbishop. “How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.” 

The first of three projects 

Founded in 1963 as Gwinnett County’s first Catholic mission, the community became an official parish in 1974. A major church expansion in 2008 accommodated 3,000 families. Today, there are some 4,500 families.  

Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., censes the new altar of the main sanctuary at St. Lawrence Church on the evening of Jan. 23. While at the Gwinnett parish, he also blessed its new adoration chapel. Photo by Wendell Tumale/St. Lawrence Photography Ministry

The construction of a eucharistic chapel is the first of three scheduled projects on the campus through the Growing in Faith Together capital campaign. The next areas for work are an improved rectory for parish priests and enlargement of classrooms and the parish hall.  

The chapel will rely on volunteer “guardians” to serve in the chapel, people who commit to spend at least one hour in prayer at a specific time. The duties are light, simply being present. There are about 400 people volunteering for the ministry.  

Said Archbishop Hartmayer, “You cannot spend time before the Blessed Sacrament without being changed. It may not be dramatic, it may not be sensational, but it will be real because we are in the real presence of God.” 

The parishioners chuckled when the archbishop said deep prayer can even cause people to fall asleep. Uwechue himself knows this, seeing people “snoring away.” 

The chapel doors open around 9:30 a.m., following morning Mass, and close at 9 p.m., when deacons offer a short prayer and move the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacle.  

The chapel, with its exposed-wood vaulted ceiling, sits 165 people. Saints of the church are represented in its stained-glass windows, including the parish patron St. Lawrence, St. Teresa of Kolkata and Mary, Queen of Heaven. It cost some $3 million to construct.  

Father Henry Atem, the pastor, said eucharistic adoration has grown steadily as a devotion as many people express interest in it. More groups and programs focused on the eucharist have emerged, such as 33 days to Eucharistic Glory, a program for personal consecration to Jesus and the more traditional 40 Hours Devotion. These have increased overall reverence at Masses, he said.  

The parish’s work reflects an emphasis of the national Church. Thousands of people participated in the National Eucharistic Congress in 2024, and the next national event is scheduled for 2029.  

Uwechue, 75, grew up in a Catholic family in Nigeria, where he worked as a military eye doctor. He became a naturalized American after moving here in 2008.  

He grew up with the eucharistic devotion but was unable to dedicate much time to adoration in his home country. However, his faith was a source of stability during the Nigerian Civil War in the 1970s as a young soldier.  

Today, it’s a vital part of Uwechue’s daily routine.  

“To the extent that if for any reason, I’m not able to do that, I feel something is missing,” he said. 

Here, he is the leader of the adoration ministry. Uwechue works with other “guardians” to ensure at least one person is in the chapel every hour of adoration. He is signed up for two slots, Tuesdays and Fridays, but he visits daily.  

He said the new dedicated chapel will bring an immense uplift to the spiritual life of the parish. The resources dedicated to constructing the chapel signal the priority the parish places on quiet time with the Lord, he said. There will be time to smooth out expectations as people become accustomed to the new chapel.  

“The number of people who turn up for adoration continues to increase, which to my mind is an indication that they’ve always had this hunger for that, and (an) opportunity was presented to them, and they’re taking advantage of it,” he said. “You don’t have to go searching for where to spend time with the Lord. You know where he is.”