Cathedral of Christ the King

I have attended the Cathedral of Christ the King (CTK) since moving to Atlanta in 2011, and let me tell you, this church is the home away from home that I needed! CTK is the main church for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, which means that this is the Archbishop of Atlanta’s church (i.e. he has a special seat in this church and he says significant masses here). The rector for our church is Monsignor Francis G. McNamee (aka Father Frank), an Irish priest who brings humor and warmth to our parish! He puts parishoners and visitors to the church at ease by beginning each of his homilies (i.e. sermon) with a funny joke.
Having converted to the Catholic faith in 2013 (through CTK’s RCIA program), I know that attending a Catholic church can be intimidating for many protestants. The rituals may seem different than your home church, but at the heart of the service we are doing the following: praying, singing, reading from the Bible, listening to a sermon, and taking communion — not really that different! The communion portion of the mass is what makes most protestants nervous — don’t be! All non-​Catholics are welcome to come up, cross their arms over their chest, and receive a blessing from the person distributing communion. If you are not comfortable going up for a blessing, then simply step out of the pew to let others pass by and receive communion.
As this church has the largest number of parishoners in the Atlanta Archdiocese, there are many new people to meet and ways to get involved! Come check out a mass and see how great a church family this can be!

As a Catholic new to the area, I am so excited about finding Cathedral of Christ the King. I attended their early evening mass on Ash Wednesday and was interested to meet the parishioners and see the inside.
As expected, it is beautiful. The church itself is very long and has high stained glass windows set in the gray stone interior. The pews were a little small, I’m 6’0″ and kneeling was a bit of a challenge, but I loved the rich wood and all of the clean lines. The homily was fantastic and I felt very connected with the service.
I was a bit skeptical with how long the distribution of the ashes and Communion would be seeing how many people were in attendance, but clearly they were veterans at this process. With the ushers guiding us, the process went smoothly and quickly.
They have a large organ which provided the music for the service as well as a beautiful canter. The only drawback was that they did not have missiles readily available for me to follow along with the readings. I’m not sure if Sundays are different. The parking was a big plus as well. With a deck right next to the church, I was easily able to find a space and walk across the street. There were also police officers present to help facilitate the process.
Overall, I had a wonderful time and am interested in learning more about the parish and how to become more involved in their community.

I’m not Catholic, but my boyfriend’s mom was in town visiting, so last weekend I found myself going to my first Catholic service at Cathedral of Christ the King in Buckhead on a stretch of Peachtree St. that is probably the most church-​heavy area I’ve ever encountered. Truly, churches of all denominations run up and down a good half mile stretch of Peachtree dominating everything else around them.
The Cathedral of Christ the King is a truly impressive church. It’s a giant, stone behemoth of a church with a massive inner sanctuary, high vaulted ceilings, a giant organ and extremely intricate, ornate stained glass windows lining each side of the main hall. It was also packed.
We arrived early for the 10:30 service, unsure of how parking would be — it’s fine actually as there’s a large, multi-​story parking deck for just this purpose right across the street — and had no problem getting a seat near the middle of the church. As the service time got closer though, the ushers had their hands full directing the steady stream of people into empty pews or seats. By the end, after the service began, we were scooching together on the pews to make room for remaining stragglers.
As I said, I’ve not been to a Catholic mass before, and it was different than any other Christian service I’ve attended, but everyone else seemed perfectly at ease with the recitations, the kneeling (those little kneeling benches still look funny to me), the signing of the cross, the lack of hymnals or prayer cards in thew pews, etc. — so I assume it was a fairly normal service.
The priest had a good sermon about being evangelists of Christ in our everyday lives and then they passed the alms basket and performed mass. This was the part I was dreading — I’m Christian, but not Catholic, and I’ve always been told I can’t take mass in a Catholic church without being Catholic. This particular mass was performed by people filing out of their pews, lining up and going up to receive the sacrament. The aisle was narrow enough that there was nowhere for me to step out of the of the lines of people waiting, so I had to awkwardly walk up to the person handing out bread, say apologetically I wasn’t a Catholic and shuffle on bread-​less back to my seat.
Aside from this bit of awkwardness, the rest of the experience was fine — good choir, good sermon, beautiful setting and the service didn’t run long. Although Catholicism isn’t my denomination, it wasn’t so radically different from the Methodist and Presbyterian Christian services I’ve attended that I was lost often, and that was definitely a good thing.

My review doesn’t change the average rating whatsoever, but I must share that I too find the cathedral beautiful. Okay, so I am not a practicing Catholic (though I was born and raised one) but I went a couple times with my family when my dad was sick and convalescing at a nearby health facility. He requested Sunday mass, so we, as his kids, obliged.
My father has a mass dedicated to his late mother (RIP, Grandma), so while we do not live in-​town, we will be back for the mass in about 3 weeks.

What a GORGEOUS Cathedral!!!
I came here for my cousin’s wedding and it went very well!!!
We had a full mass for her wedding!
It was a night wedding and the weather was wonderful!

We like it a lot.
We joined after moving back in town a few years ago; not only is it true to the faith (in terms of teaching what is believed) but it FEELS and LOOKS like a church, too.
There are a host of programs for people of all ages and of all different stations in life; it’s super helpful that they have multiple daily Masses to accommodate all schedules.
Note: there is a school attached to it, as well.

I wanted to write a special Easter review for the church I am now a member of, but a family war that erupted shortly before 6AM prevented me from doing so. Got to love family!
So, I live in Alpharetta, this place is in Buckhead, and you know there are plenty of churches near me, so why choose here?
History, my fellow Unilocalers.
As I grew up, I attended a Catholic school in Dunwoody (Our Lady of the Assumption). I played soccer and basketball there. Wanna know who one of our (or mine) biggest rival was? Christ The King was! I loved going to away games, to see the marble buildings, the cathedral, and the gym– which is its own building, and on the top floor. They had a great team– we won some, they won more!
After my father passed away (its been 10 years, so don’t get all soft on me!), I strayed from the church. I didn’t want anything to do with it… Until recently!
Now on to why I love this place:
The church itself is 75 years old. It’s not huge (comparative to places like St. Patrick’s in Manhattan), but it’s a nice size (about 700 seats). The pews are narrow (I kneel on the ground, can’t fit!), and squeaky, but thats the beauty of it– they just don’t build churches like they used– one of the few examples left in Atlanta.
There is a 3 story parking deck across the street as well, and the church offices are under the cathedral– everyone I have spoken to there is oh so friendly!
There is a chapel here called the Adoration Chapel– I volunteered to be a guardian of the chapel every Friday from 5−6PM, and to be honest, it is quite therapeutic.
I am far from being a Catholic in good standing, and I still probably break 2 – 3 commandments a week, but I tell you what– being a part of this place has really started helping out with the «hectic» game they call life.

I love my church. I started going here in college between GT Catholic Center and here with friends. I finally became an official member almost 2 years ago and it feels like my «home church» now.
At first the size of it could be a bit daunting, but there are so many ministries that help you get plugged in, you’d be able to meet some friendly and familiar faces in no time. I actually got plugged in through the Habitat Ministry, and after the first build day I went from knowing no one at the 10:30am mass to recognizing a handful of faces which now I’m happy to say are now some great friends.
The youth ministry here is being revived and I think they have an amazing vision, passion and drive. I think its completely different from the youth ministry here before, in a really good way. It’d be a great place to take your teens on Sunday for all you families.
My favorite aspect of the Cathedral is the perpetual Adoration chapel. I think there are certain hours that everyone can come, and late nights are reserved for chapel guardians. But its wonderful to be able to spend time alone with God whenever you need in the chapel.

Almost 2 years after my first review of CTK … I can officially call this place «home». It took a little bit of time to get settled in but dont be intimidated by the size. Even though it’s easy to get lost in the crowds and the multiple services offered, check out the ministries and activities that go on here.
I still think it’s strange that I’m writing a review of a church but isn’t that what Unilocal is for?
btw — dont hesitate to stop and say hi if you see other Unilocalers at mass!

Beautiful church. I prefer the later morning mass on Sunday, it just seems to have a little more energy. Be prepared for narrow pews.

Been going here for the past year but officially signed up a few months ago. A little hard to get to know people here if all you do is go to Mass, leave and don’t participate in any of the ministries. Currently I am doing a Habitat house build with others from the parish and also helping out with the RCIA process (weekly meetings for those interested in becoming Catholic, baptized, etc.) I have been meeting lots of quality people through these ministries.

I was raised Methodist but have been going to Christ the King occassionally due to the fact that all my close friends are Catholic.
The Cathedral is gorgeous and the service is always great! Eventhough, I am still learning the Catholic ways, I don’t feel out of place here.
Has anyone ever tried going to their Singles Supper after mass?