Mega Catholic church opens in Round Rock (Tx)

News8 Austin ^ | November 20, 2006 | Hermelinda Vargas

[NYer]

A new church in Round Rock bills itself as the largest Catholic church in Central Texas. It seats more than 1,500 people.

That may sound like a lot, but at Sunday’s inaugural mass, there were more than enough faithful to fill those seats. St. Williams Catholic Church says it has 12,000 registered members.

"[At the old building] we had to sometimes have people sit in the halls and watch church on TV," Father Joel McNeil said.

"You couldn't get there late because you wouldn't get a seat. You had to get there at least 15 to 20 minutes earlier than what time church started in order to get a seat, or parking," parishioner Melissa Mascarenas said.

St. Williams has been around since 1940, and the new 3,300-square-foot church was needed to accommodate the number of Catholics in Williamson County. The latest figures by the U.S. Census show Round Rock's new population growth has almost tripled since 1990.

"I think there's population growth. I think there's also a growing number of Hispanics coming to the area," McNeil said.

Unlike nondenominational mega churches, which have a more modern, arena-like look and use rock bands instead of choirs, St. Williams has a traditional look, with a painted ceiling and beautiful altar. The stained glass windows are more than 100 years old.

"They were made in Germany and they were in an orphanage in Philadelphia. And the orphanage closed and basically, these windows were lost in storage. And somebody discovered them and we said we want them put our name on them," McNeil said.

McNeil has headed the church since 1999. He said they expect to expand the building to accommodate 1,000 more people over the next 10 years.

[NYer]

St. William Catholic Parish

[Tax-chick]

Looks like a neat parish.

[Incorrigible]

What's "mega" about that?

Up in the northeast, we have suburban churches that can seat that many and nobody thinks much about it!

[Aquinasfan]

Wow! It even looks like a church!

[j_hig]

I live right by this church. It is nice, and I guess it seats the most in Austin with 1,500, but I go to one a few miles away that is the largest Catholic church in Austin as far as registered families (4,000+), and even closer to me is the "non-denominational" church that seats 5,000, so I wouldn't call this one mega! Thanks for the ping though -- I enjoyed seeing the article and the linked video.

[B-Chan]

Lovely! May Our Lady, St. William, and Our Lord look with favor upon this parish.

[x_plus_one]

Ours is bigger.

[nickcarraway]

It says "St. Willams," not St. William.

[VermiciousKnid]

Hey! That's a nice looking church!

It's small compared to our parish, but at least it LOOKS like a church. Can't say that about MY church (which looks like a branch of the First National City Bank or something.)

Regards,

[NYer]

Up in the northeast, we have suburban churches that can seat that many and nobody thinks much about it!

Where in the northeast have you seen this?

[AlaninSA]

We're bigger - and we're in San Antonio!

http://www.stmarkevangelist.com/

[AlaninSA]

Do you go to SJN?

My in-laws go to church there.

[Incorrigible]

I thought there would be some statistics on seating capacity in at least a few Catholic Churches in New Jersey but I would be wrong.

The only parish that notes seating capacity is St Francis in Metuchen, NJ which has room for 1,000 and has 4,000 families registered (x3 per family and you get 12,000).  There are other churches like St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church that are very big and have the 70's/80's spaceship design.

Where I grew up, there are at least three churches in Bayonne, NJ that are of that size:

 

[RobbyS]

3,300 sq. Ft. ? That is hardly larger than my house. Maybe 33,000.

[Incorrigible]

You were maybe expecting accuracy from a reporter?

[RobbyS]

You have it. Reporters do everything but report. They know their editors prefer fish stories to a plain old recitation of rhe facts. What's that list of "w's" they are supposed to follow?