About

In 1947 Bishop Eugene McGuinness saw the need for a new parish in the northwest area of Oklahoma City, and Christ the King parish was conceived. Vacant land at Elmhurst Avenue and Dorset Drive was purchased for $15,000, and on Passion Sunday of 1949 Bishop McGuinness broke ground for the building of four classrooms and a multipurpose room, which could serve as a temporary chapel. The campaign for financing was called "Building Generations." Rev. Charles Buswell, then an assistant pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, was named the new pastor. Christ the King began with 125 families. We now are the parish home for more than 1,750 families.

School

The parish school was such a high priority that construction of the final church building was postponed in favor of building classrooms, and the school began in 1949 in a rented four-room framed cottage. The teachers were Benedictine Sisters, and by the 1954-55 school year the school offered all eight grades with an enrollment of 362. A new library, teacher's lounge and gymnasium were built in 1982. Classroom space was expanded in a new north wing, completed in the fall of 1998, and much-needed administrative offices were built in 1999.  The south classroom wing, school commons and youth room were completed in 2001. Our long-awaited pre-school opened in the fall of 2009 in the newly renovated space formerly used for the youth program. In the fall of 2010 our neighbor, the Little Red Schoolhouse at Greystone Presbyterian, became part of Christ the King School, and in May 2010 Christ the King purchased Greystone Presbyterian Church in the Bridge to Greystone campaign. The successful completion of the B2G campaign made possible the construction of a state-of-the-art junior high building and the renovation of existing classrooms to accommodate the expanded preschool program in time for the 2012-2013 school year.

Church

The church has occupied three locations. The first was the site of the current parish offices, and the second location was the present school cafeteria. After 15 years the parish finally had a permanent church in its present location, which was dedicated on September 16, 1962. Fr. John Walch designed the stations of the cross, the canopy over the altar and the baptismal font. The bell tower contains three bells imported from Amsterdam, Holland. The bells were named in honor of the first three bishops of the diocese: Victor (Reed), Eugene (McGuinness) and Francis (Kelly). In the late 1990s the present Parish Center was built as a result of the generous stewardship of parishioners through the "Building Christ the King" campaign.

Outreach

After Vatican Council II lay people were called upon to take a more active role in caring for the needy, and the first Social Ministries Board began its work with Neighbor for Neighbor. In 1972 poor boxes were installed at the church doors to support foreign missions in Guatemala and Peru. In 1989 the parish began serving monthly meals for the homeless, and our St. Lawrence Ministry (formerly St. Vincent de Paul) has a long history of assistance to needy people within our parish boundaries who seek assistance with food, rent, utilities and prescriptions.

Throughout the decades many have generously contributed their time, energy and money to build and sustain the parish, but no one has contributed more of the spirit of God to our parish than the wonderful Pastors and Associate Pastors. 

Pastors

Rev. Charles Buswell; Rev. Msgr. James Halpine; Rev. Charles Conley; Rev. Ernest A. Flusche; Rev. Clement E. Pribil; Rev. Gerald Mayfield; Rev. Joseph Ross; Rev. Richard Stansberry; Rev. Rex Arnold (Current)

Associate Pastors

Rev. Msgr. James F. Halpine, Rev. Charles J. Johnson, Rev. David L. Jones, Rev. Robert J. O'Brien, Rev. Lawrence Courtright, Rev. Joseph LaBarge, Rev. Francis D. Colavechio, Rev. A. G. MacAulay, Rev. John A. Petuskey, Rev. Thomas Dowdell, Rev. Gary C. Aultz, Rev. James J. Mickus, Rev. Philip Creider, Rev. Thomas L.P. O'Toole, Rev. Mark Mason, Rev. John R. Metzinger, Rev. Joseph Vas, Rev. Victor J. Van De Walle, Rev. Joseph R. Ross, Rev. Duanne D. Mallon, Rev. David A. Cowden, Rev. John D. Carl, Rev. James A. Goin, Rev. James Kastner, Rev. Balasamy, Rev. Francis Nguyen, Rev. Christopher Brashears (Summer Associate), Rev. Aaron Foshee, Dcn. Zak Boazman (Summer Associate), Rev. William Banowsky (Summer Associate), Rev. Prabhakar Kalivela (Current)

Charter Members 1949-50 (as documented in 1999)

Mrs. Marcy Albertson, Mr. Jack Andrews, Mr. and Mrs. Dalton Blanche, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burrows, Mrs. Ed Byrne, Mrs. Bue Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Art Dansereau, Mrs. Charles Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Jacques De Lier, Mrs. Kathryn Dexter, Mrs. Vivian Donovan, Mr. and Mrs. J. Walter Duncan, Mrs. Esther Edin, Mr. and Mrs. Jerald Fink, Mrs. Marjorie Green, Mrs. Rebecca Hunzicker, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Hyde, Mrs. Connie Linnermann, Mrs. Bess Morrison, Mrs. Agnes Moyer, Mr. and Mrs. John Muse, Mr. and Mrs. Vincent O'Connor, Mrs. Margaret Pollard, Mrs. LaVerne Poole, Mrs. Genevieve Rapp, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Rueb, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Schmitt, Mr. and Mrs. B.L. Semtner, Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Spaeth, Mrs. Maxine Stancampiano, Mrs. Martha Sturm Steffen, Mrs. Ginny Sullivan, Mrs. Frances Trueblood, mrs. Bernice Kelly Tomlinson, Mrs. Cecelia Wolf