Hello again, everyone! While I have no desire whatsoever to halt the ongoing discussion of future temple locations in the areas of the Church I have already covered (I actually hope those will continue), I have felt inclined to get the next post in the series up on this blog. If the numbers I'm seeing are any indication, this series of posts has wide interest. The previous posts in this series, even those that have been up less than 48 hours, have double-digit readership already. That means a lot to me.
That said, I want to now turn our attention to the Europe Area. Because there is so much to cover in terms of this area (which, unless I am mistaken, is the second largest in the Church), I am dividing this area into two posts, the first to discuss the current breakdown of nations in this area, and the second to discuss the possibilities for future temples that I see for this area in the near future.
The Church defines the Europe Area as covering a whopping 44 countries or territories, and the Church has a presence in all but two of those, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Vatican City, headquarters of the Catholic Church and the Pope's residence. Because there are that many countries and territories, I will not be covering each one individually. It would just be too time-consuming. What I can and will do is focus on the 13 current temples in that area, and the number of Church units that are covered in each of those temple districts..
That will include the Bern Switzerland, Copenhagen Denmark, Frankfurt Germany, Freiberg Germany, Helsinki Finland, London England, London England, Madrid Spain, Paris France, Preston England, Stockholm Sweden, and The Hague Netherlands Temples. The Lisbon Portugal and Rome Italy Temples are under construction. Let's talk about each of these temple districts.
The Bern Switzerland Temple district covers 19 stakes and 1 district in Italy, Switzerland, France, Albania and the Jerusalem district in Israel. Once the Rome Italy Temple is dedicated (in early 2019), that temple district will likely take in the 10 stakes in Italy, which would leave the Bern temple with 9 stakes and 1 district.
The Copenhagen Denmark Temple district takes in the 2 stakes in Denmark, 1 in Southern Sweden, and the 2 branches in Iceland.And while the Frankfurt Germany Temple is being renovated, ordinance workers from the Hamburg German & Neuminister Germany stakes have been reassigned to this temple. That information is not relevant to the general subject of current temples, but I thought it was an interesting tidbit.
The Frankfurt Germany Temple district is comprised of 16 stakes and 5 districts located in Western Germany, Austria, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Croatia, Cypress, Serbia, and Slovenia, making it another relatively small district. The Freiberg Germany Temple district covers 5 stakes and 7 districts in Eastern Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, meaning it is also a small district.
The Helsinki Finland Temple district covers 3 stake and 4 districts located in Finland, Northwestern Russia, Estonia, and Lithuania. The London England Temple district takes in 22 stakes and 2 districts located in the regions of Southern England and the English Midlands, Wales, Ireland and Jordan. The Madrid Spain Temple district covers the 23 stakes and 10 districts in Spain, Portugal, and Cape Verde. That district will shrink somewhat in 2019 when the Lisbon Portugal Temple is dedicated.
The Paris France Temple, dedicated last May, Its district covers 7 stakes. The Preston England Temple district covers Northern England and the English Midlands, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. The Stockholm Sweden Temple district covers Sweden, Norway and Latvia, and contains 5 stakes and 2 districts that have been organized within those nations.
Finally, the Hague Netherlands Temple serves the 5 stakes located in the Netherlands and Belgium. As you can see from this data, for the most part, because there are so many temples in this area, the temple districts are very small. The main consideration that has led to a new temple being announced and built within this area is proximity, but other factors include the sheer breadth of each of the nations and the arduous distances the saints within that area have had to travel
That said, I do see a few very viable and likely candidate cities for future temples in this area, and I will be detailing those in the next post. That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
900th Blog Post: Temple Site Possibilities: Europe Area, Part One--Current Temples
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.