St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center has had growing pains for a long time now.

Parking space, always at a premium, is maxed out on weekends during Kansas University’s academic year when about 2,000 people descend on the center for its five Masses.

A building expansion and new parking lot are in the works for St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Road.

Practice sessions for St. Lawrence’s liturgical music program have to be in the chapel, which was intended to be used solely for worship services and prayer.

And the center is running out of room to conduct its religious education classes for KU students.

But the shortage of space and parking at the center, 1631 Crescent Road, looks like it could be at an end.

St. Lawrence is embarking on a $7.8 million project to build a two-story parking structure and an addition that will house the center’s religious education and liturgical music activities.

Work on both jobs is scheduled to begin June 3. The 174-space parking facility should be completed by December, while the new wing is supposed to be finished by August 2003.

“We need more parking really badly. We only have spaces for 98 cars, and there’s no parking on Crescent or Engel Road. It’s a very big need,” said the Rev. Vince Krische, chaplain of St. Lawrence since 1977.

The addition will feature a large lecture hall, and the second floor will be dedicated to the liturgical music program. All the music practices will be in the new building, which will have a practice organ in an acoustically designed space.

The 15,000-square-foot addition will incorporate native Kansas limestone and a shingle roof, so it will resemble the original wing of the existing center.

“We’re going to have space to run our programs. Student participation grows every year, and we’re hoping that will continue,” Krische said.

St. Lawrence is neither a parish nor a congregation in the traditional sense. It’s a Catholic campus ministry serving KU’s students, faculty, staff, administration and alumni across the United States.

Established at KU in 1958, the center moved to its present location in 1972. Nineteen full-time and six part-time staff members work at St. Lawrence.

The center’s operating budget for the last fiscal year was $1.6 million, all of which comes from the financial support of alumni, parents of KU students, friends of St. Lawrence and several foundations.

Funds to provide roughly 80 percent of the center’s budget, Krische said, are drawn from outside Lawrence.

Its mission, according to Krische, is to promote Catholic intellectual, spiritual and moral traditions in higher education. It is first and foremost the Catholic Church on campus, guiding the personal development of KU students.

Religious education at St. Lawrence involves a curriculum of catechism, liturgy, morals and social teachings.

Approximately 2,000 people from the KU community are active at the center.

St. Lawrence’s chapel, an expanded student center and the existing parking lot were built in 1985.

St. Lawrence is an important presence in the community, according to Krische.

“One of the interesting things about us is the economic contribution we make to Lawrence. We celebrate many weddings here, which involves florists, hotels and jewelry stores. And we have other events that bring in parents, alumni and friends,” Krische said.

“We also have students who come here (to KU) because of the St. Lawrence Center, others who say they stayed here because of St. Lawrence, and still others who tell us it made all the difference during their college years.”