St Lawrence The Martyr Roman Catholic Church

It’s a good church. Only thing I think they could tone down on his singing every prayer. The homily ahold reflect the stories of the bible and how it relates to today’s world. The new pope is moving on with the times and so ships we as a faith. Let the other religions stay backward and let’s all move forward. I’d recommend the church.

I have been a parishioner at St Lawrence for 5 years and in this time have grown more spiritually, under the guidance of these holy priests, than I had 40 years prior as a Baptized Catholic. They are learned, faithful to the Magisterium, VERY reverent, and self-​sacrificing with their time — sitting in the Confessional for many, many hours every week. Above all, they will have the moral courage to tell you when you are sinning, not because they’re mean, but because they love you enough to tell you the truth — they care more about our souls than about our opinion of them.
There is Adoration all day on Wednesdays, finishing with a Holy Hour from 19:30 — 20:30 that is amazing — wow. You just have to try it sometime.
This parish offers the Traditional Latin Mass at 12:30 every Sunday and on Holy Days.
The renovations inside are just beautiful — great statues and sanctuary.
The religious ed program uses «Faith in Life» series which is very orthodox.
The parish has an active spirit of prayer and community, lots of pro-​life work.
As a local newspaper said of this parish: it’s «a church that is never empty».

Great, authentic Catholic parish with amazing priests. I was a member for 15 years and even though I’ve moved, I still consider it home. I always felt at home and considered the community my second family. There is really no place like it – not to mention the graces that flow from the parishioners who go to visit and pray daily. I have never found this church empty. Miss it a ton!

As a parishoner at this parish — and thus having more exposure to the priests and to the parish in general than people who pop in once a year, I can’t disagree with the reviewers more. I have felt more than welcome by all three priests at St. Lawrence. I had my child baptized here, and they worked with me through some unusual circumstances. There is a Knights of Columbus parish breakfast once a month, there are many social opportunities, I’ve been visited by the Rosary Guild, by the Legion of Mary, and other organizations attached to the parish. In short, I’ve felt MORE than welcome here than at any other parish I’ve ever attended!
Not only will you receive solid Catholic teaching here (and by «solid» I don’t mean «fire and brimstone», I mean «straight out of the Catechism»), but you will find good Liturgy here as well. Fr. Mould is absolutely wonderful, as anyone who knows him can attest. I do find the two Polish priests a bit difficult to understand at times. The priests will not treat you as second-​class citizens, nor assume you know nothing. This is not for people who want simple, happy «sound byte» Catholicism, devoid of some of the more relevant issues of the day. You will be treated like an adult and not spoon-​fed platitudes.
I’m not quite sure what JB is talking about about not being «allowed» to switch parishes. I’m not aware of any sort of compulsion; I have friends from this area who attend St. John’s in McLean despite being in St. Lawrence’s geographical area.
Regarding Tony M’s comment about being warned away from receiving Communion if not being a Catholic in good standing with the Church (i.e. within having confessed recently and attended more than twice a year), this is extremely standard and reflects the seriousness of receiving the Eucharist. It is not a meaningless sacrament, it is not (only) a symbol of unity. This information is usually printed in any bulletin, leaflet, missal, etc; it is standard practice on big holidays like Christmas and Easter that the parish priest says this from the pulpit. This is not new, in any parish.
I’m baffled as to the other reviewer’s charge of «lack of appropriateness”/PG-13 content (!). I’m sorry she had this experience, but again, as a regular parishoner I’ve got noooo idea what she’s talking about.
In short, come to St. Lawrence! If you’re an early riser, there’s a 7:30am Mass. There’s a nice traditional choir at the 9am Mass, a contemporary choir at the 11:30 (I think it’s 11:30) Mass, and the 12:30 is the Tridentine Mass. On the 4^th Sunday of every month, it is a Missa Cantata (a sung Latin Mass, sometimes a High Mass). If you want to know more about our parish, come and see!

Tony M., I could not agree with you more. Today at the Easter mass the priest made me feel completely unwelcome. My husband and I felt that he was basically telling us to get out of the church. That priest has totally missed out on Jesus’ teachings that you should strive to be a good person and be open to the Lord. The priest today said that it is not enough to be a good person to be saved, you must also go to mass every Sunday and confess. The way to draw more people to the Catholic faith is not to guilt them into going to Church. That is not true belief. I will take my family (and my donations) to another church.

I hope I’m not stamping my ticket to hell by giving a church a 1 star review on Unilocal,but I feel it’s necessary.
I’ve never felt less welcome in any establishment as I did at this church on Easter Sunday. The priest was reading the sermon and eventually got to the part which I’ve been familiar with from being a Catholic since birth. The lecture about only going to church on Christmas and Easter. I’ve heard it before. But this guy kicked it up a notch. «For those of you who only go to church once or twice a year on Christmas or Easter I can promise you things will not go well for you when you reach final judgement. Furthermore, do not come up to receive the communion if you have not confessed in the past year. It is a mortal sin.»
Since moving to this area, I do not get to church anywhere near as often as I should. I’m not proud of it, but it is what it is. I go to church with my mom when I go home to visit, and a few Sundays here and there. I haven’t confessed in years. I understand priests read the riot act every now and again, but this seemed overboard to me. Especially on an Easter holiday.
This priest is everything that is wrong with the Catholic church and it’s perception. My wife and I had planned to have our child Baptized here, but we’re now thankful we chose to do it in New York instead. I had the membership forms to this church ready to be filled out and turned in, but after today’s service I threw them out. I can take a hint.

Out of all the Catholic Churches that I’ve been to I think this is the first one that i did not feel comfortable attending. A church is suppose to feel welcoming, somehow, I feel that St. Lawrence church is part of 15^th century Spanish Inquisition period. As Jennifer stated in her review, the Homily, does feel like a college lecture. In another incident a baptism class, I was reviewing the handout the was given. It reads like the pages were part of a dissertation. Thanks God for the 6 years of Catholic schooling I had in my preteen and teenage years, I was able to understand, barely, what the handout were discussing. In the class, the religious instructor could not answer the qualification of being a god-​parent. When I has my second child, we went to a different church, and the baptism class was a lot more easier to understand. Even the handout were easier to read.
Unfortunately, the Richmond diocese will not let us switch churches. It is like public schools. You are assign to the church you are zone in, based on your address and zip code. If I wanted to attend a better church, I could, but I could take any of the religious classes unless I get permission from our host church, which is St Lawrence… Sigh

Concerning the Homily: I DO feel a mite mean leaving this review. I can’t really understand why a priest would want to speak like a college professor; I’m not taking notes on your homily father, please calm it way down. Plus I think you’re supposed to reflect on the readings and more often than I’d like the homily seems completely off? Furthermore and by far the most offensive ummm delicately I will just say… sometimes (often) the subject matter and presentation of the homily are PG-​13 in fairness same priest. seems to lack proper judgment or prefer an older crowd in his defense his inappropriateness is supported by our faith and I agree with his sentiment but his in your face bluntness in the presence of children is inexcusable. My review is the community is friendly the facility is nice, paking and local are good. In my opinion if you like 1−2hr lectures, think singing is a musical distraction and are child free THIS IS THE PARISH FOR YOU! Sadly, just not me.