Christ the King Parish was formed in January 1951 when Archbishop John J. Mitty of San Francisco named Father John Murray as the first pastor of Christ the King. This new parish was carved out of St. Mary's in Walnut Creek, founded in 1941, and Queen of All Saints in Concord, founded in 1923, parishes that had outgrown their facilities.
CTK was initially established on 5 acres of empty property, a dilapidated, two-room farmhouse and a small bungalow on an almond orchard now called Rolling Hills. Within two months an energetic band of parishioners had hammered nails, scrubbed floors and wielded paintbrushes to prepare for the celebration of the first parish Mass on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1951.
Parishioners who came to mass on that memorable Sunday had to pick their way through weeds and mud to see how a place of worship had emerged from an almond orchard. They found the little white cottage had been converted into the "Chapel of Christ the King" replete with altar, communion rail, a handful of pews and kneelers and one confessional. Attached to the chapel was a long, striped awning that covered a cleared area where some 50 pews had been placed.
These original parishioners are now fondly referred to as the “tent” people. This group and Fr. Murray immediately began work on a more traditional “interim” church which was planned and built in 1951 and 1952.
Today, what is clearly a gymnasium was originally built as Christ the King’s new church. On Christmas Eve 1952, parishioners celebrated mass for the first time in this new church. This former church has now become a gymnasium which hosts school physical education and activities, parish events, and CYO basketball teams.
By the time our parish celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 1976, it was clear that the parish had outgrown this “new church”, and the planning, design and eventual construction of our current church was started.
This church was designed by the architect William Gillis and construction was completed in 1979. On November 25, 1979, Bishop John S. Cummins celebrated with us as we dedicated the new church we have today.
In January 1961 ground was broken for Christ the King School with construction completed by September of that year. A separate convent building was constructed at the same time. The school opened with the sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet who had arrived as teachers and staff for the first four grades. Each year one more grade was added until the first 8th grade graduation in May of 1966.
In 1975 a kindergarten program was started, and a kindergarten classroom was added to the building. In 1998 the school was expanded again with construction of a separate junior high wing (6th, 7th and 8th grade).
In May 1999 an electrical fire broke out in the attic of the original school which destroyed this building. Classes for grades K through 5 moved to portable trailers while the school was rebuilt into a modern, state-of-the-art school. On September 9, 2000, we celebrated the blessing and opening of this newly rebuilt school. Our school continues to thrive with a full enrollment of 320 students and waiting lists for many grades.
The sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet faithfully served our parish and school for many years, however, with retirements and declining vocations to religious life, the convent was eventually vacated in the late 1970’s. A few sisters continued to work at the school, however, the convent was no longer used as a residence. While portions of this building were used as gathering spaces, the building was largely vacant and not suitable for meetings or ministry activities.
A vision to reconstruct this building into a modern ministry center emerged over the ensuing years, and finally in 2019 the building was reconstructed into the modern ministry center we have today with a chapel, parish offices, and meeting rooms to serve the ministries of the parish.
