The cathedral accommodates more than 2,000 worshippers and serves as the site for major liturgical celebrations, pilgrimages, and events for the Catholic community of eastern North Carolina.

Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral was designed by the architecture firm of O'Brien & Keane, based in Arlington, Virginia, and built by Clancy & Theys Construction Company of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral is arranged in a cruciform layout and has a gross floor area of approximately 43,000 square feet.

Seating for the congregation, illuminated by clerestory windows, is located within the nave and transepts and is separated from the side aisles by an arcade.

The chapel windows are also from the Church of the Ascension in Philadelphia, and were designed by JM Kase & Company Art Stained Glass.

Thereby designated as the 'home' of the diocesan family, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral is where the faithful will gather in union with the whole Church, under the leadership of the bishop, to encounter Our Lord in Word and Sacrament.

The dome reaches upward above the assembly, and through it sunlight illuminates the sanctuary directly below, serving as an architectural expression of the union of heaven and earth that takes place within our worship and prayer.

As the dome of the new Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral stands above the tree line as a landmark in the community, it will also prompt us to raise our eyes and lift our hearts to our Heavenly Father and remain focused on His plan for each of us.

The drum of the dome, adorned with a range of paired Corinthian columns and entablature and sixteen arched windows, is located directly above the sanctuary platform below it.

Cast stone, specified in a range of colors, is incorporated into the most prominent parts of the building, such as the West entry façade and the exterior of the chapel.

In a simplified expression of the interior architectural language, the masonry features corbelling (intentional, minor projections in the brickwork) to lend relief and interest to the surface of the structure through shadow, and to enhance the design details, articulating the bays and conveying the building's structural strategy on its exterior.

The voussoirs forming the arches are custom-made tapered shapes, in order to allow the joints to remain parallel, and to relieve the workmen of the laborious and dangerous task of saw-cutting brick on-site.

The diamond-patterned window fields reference the diamond motif that is repeated throughout the cathedral, including the glass in many of the interior doors and in the lighting fixtures.

The Chapel of All Saints, which is intended to serve as a place of quiet reflection and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, is embedded into the main cathedral building with its windows facing south and is entered from the narthex.

One of the most impressive furnishings in size and scale, the pipe organ (Opus 147) was designed and built by CB Fisk and features 61 stops.

The design for the four stained-oak confessionals was inspired by a traditional precedent seen in Italy by Bishop Michael Burbidge, updated to accommodate modern norms.

The design theme for the narthex was inspired by the courtyards of antiquity, featuring the classical orders of Doric and Ionic, and a barrel vault.

In this transition space from indoors to outdoors, the narthex, similar to an open atrium, is expanded to allow the congregants to gather and greet one another prior to Mass, a preference voiced by parishioners.

The ends of the transepts house shrines to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph the Worker, and feature carved statues rendered in lifelike tones.

The side aisles also contain twenty-four similar statues of selected saints, including one niche that stands in reserve for Reverend Thomas Price, Servant of God, the first native-born North Carolinian to be ordained a Catholic priest.

The fourteen Stations of the Cross seen throughout the Nave and Transept aisles are restored, painted wood, of a similar vintage as the windows.

The basin of the font measures 6 feet in diameter, and the element was designed by the architect and fabricated along with the balance of the liturgical furnishings.

The design of the apse is informed by a scripture passage found in Revelation 4:2-7, which provides a description of Heaven as the Lamb joined by four creatures, 24 elders in white robes with golden crowns, and seven lamps.