Catholics in Action invited a liturgical expert to attend Sunday Mass at St. William’s parish. He made some interesting observations.

My visit to St. William’s Church was amusing and yet also quite sad. They had a baptism that day, or at least tried to have one. They did not use the necessary formula and the baptism is invalid. The parents were a lesbian couple and it appeared that the man who donated the sperm was also allowed to be a part of the ceremony.

The parish does not use the terms "Lord" or "Son", and "Father" is used only once in the liturgy. During the Lord’s Prayer, the congregation addresses God with the words, "..Our Father/Mother…" No masculine pronouns are used when referring to God. This inappropriate use of language undoubtedly invalidated the baptism that was attempted during my visit, and violates the clear norms for the liturgy. The formula for baptism seemed to be adlibbed, the words used were: "I baptize you in the name of God our Creator, in the name of Jesus the Christ, and in the name of the Holy Spirit." This is not what the church defines for validity.

The parish boasts of having a "pastoral administrator" who runs the parish. This person is a woman. The priest is simply a "sacramental minister" who reports to her. Only an ordained minister can be a pastor. The title of pastor is reserved specifically to the priest. (John Paul II, Meeting of the Congregation for the Clergy – November 23, 2001)

The bread used for the Eucharist was a very deep brown color, unlike what true wheat bread looks like. I did not go up to receive communion. I believe the matter is made from bran, and I believe it is invalid.

A platform has been built in front of what used to be the sanctuary, and it juts out about one-third of the way into the church. Chairs for the congregation flank both sides of this stage, and the music ministry plays from there. On the wall that was built to enclose the former sanctuary, there is a small shelf jutting out from the right side (as you face the wall). Siting on this shelf is a very small box that may be a tabernacle. It is about eight inches high, twelve to eighteen inches long, and about eight inches deep. It is essentially useless because one would have to climb over the keyboard set-up to get to it. They don’t light the tabernacle lamp until the congregation assembles (probably to signify Christ’s presence in the community), so I suspect they may not use the tabernacle at all. There are no seats reserved for the celebrant. He or she sits with the congregation.

There is no doubt that a large number of parishioners are active homosexuals. I saw at least two homosexual couples giving the appearance of being "married" with their children present at the Mass. The behavior of the congregation during the Sign of Peace and the written statements of the parish leaders would lead me to believe that there were many other active homosexuals present.

There were so many liturgical deviations that I would not associate the liturgy I attended with the Catholic Mass. While the main parts remained intact (Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist), and various components of the Mass were present, the deviations were so great that an Episcopalian low Mass would have more resemblance to the true Catholic Mass.