As of 2025, Christ the King Parish had over 5,300 registered families, making it one of the largest parishes in the archdiocese. Christ the King School (CKS) in 2025 had an enrollment of approximately 500 students.[1] Monsignor Francis G. McNamee is the cathedral rector as of 2025.
The cathedral, dedicated in 1939, was designed in the Gothic Revival style and was constructed over a two-year period. Christ the King has a large number of stained glass windows created by the Willets Studios. Over the decades, the parish has added a convent, chapel, parish center and auditorium/gymnasium to the cathedral property.
History
In early 1936, Bishop Gerald P. O'Hara, bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, erected the parish of Christ the King in Atlanta.[2] The congregation purchased in foreclosure a mansion on four acres of land for $35,000 that had previously belonged to a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. While converting the mansion into a temporary chapel, the congregation celebrated masses on the front porch. The first mass on the property was celebrated in August 1936[3]
The Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart began construction of CKS in 1936 on the parish property.[4][5] When the school auditorium was finished, the parish moved its masses there and demolished the mansion. After purchasing some adjacent property, the parish began planning its church.[3][1]
On January 5, 1937, recognizing the growth of the City of Atlanta, Pope Pius XI converted the Diocese of Savannah into the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta.[2] He designated Christ the King Church, still under construction, as a future co-cathedral of the new diocese, along with the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah.[1]
The groundbreaking for the new co-cathedral occurred on April 18, 1937, and O'Hara laid its cornerstone on October 31, 1937. Cardinal Dennis Dougherty, archbishop of Philadelphia, dedicated the Co-Cathedral of Christ the King on January 18, 1939. An issue of Architectural Record from that same year called it the "...most beautiful building in Atlanta".[6][1]
On July 2, 1956, Pope Pius XII erected the new Diocese of Atlanta, with Christ the King designated as its cathedral.[7] In the 1950s, the parish constructed a free-standing convent and a chapel in the cathedral. The Hyland Center, a $25 million combined auditorium and gymnasium, was completed in 1961. The parish constructed a parish center on the cathedral property in 1999.[8]
In 2014, the parish purchased a nearby property for $1.9 million that the archdiocese had previously rented as a residence for Archbishop Wilton Gregory. The parish announced plans to convert the house into a two-story $3 million rectory for its priests. Many parishioners complained about the cost of the project. In addition, neighbors objected to its presence in their neighborhood.[9]
A group gathered outside Christ the King Cathedral on Sunday September 23, 2018, to protest the handling of sexual abuse allegations against priests by the Catholic church.[10]
Cathedral
Structure
The architect for Christ the King Cathedral was Henry D. Dagit Jr. of Henry D. Dagit & Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm designed many Catholic churches in the United States.[11]
The main entrance to the cathedral has a large recessed pointed arch with three colonnettes and moldings them. The doors have narrow windows on each side and a statue of Christ sits in a niche above the entrance.[8] The cathedral exterior is set in ashlar stone.
