Photo by Julianna Leopold

ATLANTA—Once tucked between the altar and the sacristy at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was a small room known by parishioners as the Bishop’s Chapel. Over the years it had fallen into disuse as an overlooked and cluttered closet, hiding its stained-glass windows.  

Since February, it has come to life again as sun pours through the windows into a revitalized eucharistic adoration chapel.  

“I call it coming before the blessed fire,” said Obi Emmanuel. 

A longtime parishioner, Emmanuel now prays here after Tuesday daily Mass.  

The opportunity to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament is a gift. He views the prayer as being in the presence of Jesus, comparing it to Mother Teresa’s reflection of being in a ray of sunlight versus a shaded place. 

“I came in here, and I was quite blown away by everything,” he said.  

Phase one of Basilica’s renovation  

The transformation is part of the first phase of a renovation of the historic downtown Atlanta church.  

“We felt that its location could be a beautiful extension of the Basilica’s sanctuary but for its own separate and significant purpose,” wrote Father John Howren, the rector, in an email.  

He said the space offers an intimate place for personal and small-group prayer while inviting the community to eucharistic adoration.  

In the early 2000s, an initiative to start an adoration ministry started, but it didn’t get traction. This chapel now aligns with the national effort to raise awareness of the centrality of the Eucharist in Catholic life, he said. 

Open now just one day a week, the parish is thinking ahead about how to expand the offering.   

The new space is part of “For Such a Time as This” redecoration project, estimated to cost a total of $4 million. It is the first major interior update of the church since the 1960s. 

In 2024, the project faced some resistance. Opponents, including some parishioners and petition signers, expressed fear the changes could compromise the church’s artistic and spiritual heritage. The church was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.  But parish leaders emphasized the need for a welcoming worship space that aligned with current liturgical guidelines and respected the church’s history.  

The first phase included sanctuary renovation, new marble flooring, new liturgical furnishings, updated lighting and sound systems and renovated confessionals and baptistry. 

The second phase of the project is to begin soon and continue through the fall. It includes new pews, restoration of an exterior garden, faux marble painting and other changes.  

Marist heritage in chapel’s details  

Uncovering the chapel’s windows revealed new imagery. One window is decorated with the seven lamps of a menorah. The other is a crown of Jesus victorious.  

The renovated adoration space at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Atlanta features an original portrait of St. Teresa of Kolkata. The intimate sun-soaked chapel was re-named the Marist Chapel of St. Peter Chanel, honoring the community’s ties to the Marists. Photo by Julianna Leopold

With a nod to the church history, the space has been named the Marist Chapel of St. Peter Chanel. The religious community of the Society of Mary—known as Marists—staffed the church beginning in 1897 and the Marist School in the shadow of the church’s twin spires opened in 1901. When the school campus relocated to Brookhaven in the 1960s, the community of priests moved too.  

Its doors are decorated with the crest of Atlanta Bishop Joel M. Konzen, SM, a longtime Marist priest and educator at the school. The other has the crest of the founding pastor Marist Father John Edward Gunn, who would later become the Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi. 

Historic furnishings were repurposed for the chapel: a sun-like monstrance rests on marble from the old tabernacle stand, with the brass details from the former ambo. Antique prayer kneelers from circa 1900 are used, in addition to the pew used by St. Teresa of Kolkata when she prayed at the church in 1995. Original portraits of the Albanian Indian saint and of St. Peter Chanel, Marist priest and martyr, decorate the walls.  

Cathy Ehrler painted the two portraits.  

“It was a wonderful experience to do it. And when I do my paintings, I get very absorbed in the subject, especially when I do portraits. I felt like I was channeling two very special people,” she said.  

In her efforts, the longtime parishioner painted both saints to share blue tones, matching halos and prominent crucifixes.  

“Both of them show a spirit of generosity and joy,” said Ehrler. “And (St. Peter Chanel) was a little more serious. I wanted to give him a smile, but then no one would recognize him. The Marists would not know who he was.” 

Jean DaSilva takes time on her days off from work at a Grant Park restaurant on Tuesdays to visit the chapel after Mass.  

She returned to the church about 11 years ago after her father’s death. Spending half an hour in adoration has deepened her relationship as an adult with God, she said. 

“I really need this, and I love this, and I want this,” she said.