Stokes Sounds Off: Some Additional Thoughts on the Announcement of the Rome Italy Temple Dedication Information

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Thursday, March 29, 2018

Some Additional Thoughts on the Announcement of the Rome Italy Temple Dedication Information

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again today to pass along some additional thoughts on the announcement that was made earlier today about the dates for the open house and dedication for the Rome Italy Temple. First, while the Mormon Newsroom announcement does not mention a cultural celebration or youth devotional, on the Church's official Events page, the details of the dedication do include a notice that a special youth devotional will be held the night before the first dedicatory session.

And as an additional observation, this temple's dedication will mark the first time a temple has been dedicated over multiple days. For those interested, the last time that occurred was with the 2009 dedications of the Draper Utah and Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temples, which were both held for a three-day period.

The next most recent example of that was the Nauvoo Illinois Temple dedication in 2002, which spanned 4 days. There were a number of other temples that had 2 or more days for their dedications, including the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple. For temples widely anticipated that would be meaningful to so many, the decision was made to hold those dedications over several days.

But it would appear that the period of 8 days set aside for the dedication of this temple is the longest such period to occur within the last 40 or 50 years. And that makes sense. For an iconic city such as Rome, that has such rich roots to most Christian faiths, it makes sense that the Church would want to extend all who want to do so the opportunity to participate in this dedication.

I have also observed recently that it will be most interesting to see how soon President Nelson shares responsibility for presiding at temple dedications with his counselors. He may opt to do so very early in his presidency, since he has asked President Ballard to preside at the private rededication for the Houston Texas Temple. So let's take a look at how long it took for previous Church presidents to share that responsibility with their counselors and (in several cases, the senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles).

President Spencer W. Kimball was appointed Church president in December 1973. The first time he asked one of his counselors to officiate at a dedication was with the 1981 original dedication of the Jordan River Utah Temple, at which he asked his second counselor, President Marion G. Romney, to preside. All other temples dedicated prior to President Kimball's death were dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley, who served as Second Counselor in the First Presidency for most of the last 3 years of President Kimball's presidency.

President Ezra Taft Benson requested that his counselors, Presidents Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson, preside at the first two temple dedications of his presidency. He himself presided over the next two, and President Hinckley presided over all of the rest of those dedications prior to President Benson's death at the end of May in 1994. Only two temples were dedicated during President Hunters brief 9-month administration, but President Hunter did ask his counselors to represent him in presiding at some of the final sessions of either or both of those.

President Hinckley became Church president in mid-March 1995, and the first temple dedication that he did not preside over was conducted by President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who dedicated the Regina Saskatchewan Temple. The prophet's counselors, Presidents Monson and James E. Faust, began being assigned to those temple dedication duties in 2000. But following the dedication of the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple in August of the same year, President Hinckley resumed personal responsibility for presiding at temple dedications again, and he did so at all of the remaining temple dedications of his presidency.

And of course, as we know, more recently, President Monson became Church president in February 2008, and in view of the reorganization of the First Presidency the week before, President Monson had shifted the dedication of the first temple of his presidency by one week. Starting in August 2011, he shared those responsibilities with his counselors (and with senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles),  and the dedication of the Phoenix Arizona Temple and the rededication of the Ogden Utah Temple were the last such temple events at which he personally presided.

So it will be interesting indeed to see what President Nelson will opt to do in terms of how soon he opts to share such duties with his counselors. It may not be long at all. All three men in the First Presidency have had experiences presiding at temple dedications or rededications. I am particularly intrigued to see what occurs regarding the 8-day dedication for the Rome Italy Temple. Depending on how many sessions might wind up being held, I would imagine that Church leadership will rotate participating on different days.

Whatever might occur in terms of future temple dedications or rededications, you can find my analysis of such news here as I learn of it. That does it for this post. Any and all 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.

4 comments:

  1. The dedications for the temples in Bountiful (1995) and Mount Timpanogos (1996) were each 7 days. The only dedication that was 8 days or longer was the Salt Lake Temple (19 days)

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  2. You are correct on that point, Scott. What I meant was that this is the first dedication since 2009 that is longer than a single day, which, at 8 days, is going to be the longest-lasting one we have seen in a while. Thanks.

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  3. So, we can say this will be the longest number of dedication days for a temple outside Utah and the US.

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  4. That's a great way of putting it. Thanks, coach.

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