Wow.

That was my reaction to seeing the completed St. William’s parish in Round Rock today when Katie and I went there to Mass for the our Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Conception feastday.

The outside is awesome: It reminded me immediately of St. Francis’ Basilica in Assisi, Italy.
The inside is equally awesome, both in size but especially in beauty.

We providentially ran into our friends the Hebert’s going into Mass, whom we had babysitted for last week and sat by them with their 7 children.  Their daughters are precious and are enamored with Katie, especially after going to our wedding, which is really cute.

When we sat down in the right arm of the cruciform interior, directly across from us I saw a stained-glass window depicting the marriage of Mary and Joseph that was simply stupendous.  Behind the altar is a set of statues of the 4 Gospel writers, and above that on the wall is a replica of Raphael’s Disputation.

There are so many beautiful statues, stained-glass windows, decorations and embellishments that I couldn’t take it all in for the brief time we were there at Mass.  I have seen such beautiful Catholic churches in Italy but rarely in the United States, where most churches I have visited that were built in the past 40 years or so look like a warehouse, an office building, or worse.

I couldn’t find any great pictures of the inside and outside of the parish, unfortunately, so you just need to come down to Round Rock, Texas, and visit it for yourself.  Jesus will be there!