Hello again, everyone! Some of you may have already seen the comment from longtime reader Daniel in the threads of my previous post. For those that haven't yet seen that, and/or are interested in my analysis of the development in question, I am pleased to announce that the Church has set groundbreaking arrangements for two Utah temples, namely, Taylorsville and Red Cliffs.
In conjunction with the announcement of these arrangements, an exterior rendering has been released for the Taylorsville Utah Temple, and it is another that will not include the Angel Moroni statue, demonstrating that the Church may be moving away from widely using that in the futhre. Today's announcement notes that the two Utah temple groundbreakings will be done by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Here's the interesting thing, though: for the first time, in conjunction with the groundbreaking announcements, no specific dates have been noted. Rather, the Church has instead indicated that the groundbreaking for the Taylorsville Utah Temple will occur in October, under the direction of Elder Gerrit W. Gong, with attendance at the site by invitation only. With the Taylorsville Utah Temple planned to be roughly 70,000 square feet, I'd estimate construction may take between 2-3 years.
Meanwhile, for the Red Cliffs Utah Temple, which will have a groundbreaking at some point in November, the Church has, as I previously conjectured would be the case, tapped Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a St. George native, to break ground for the city's second temple named after the prominent red cliffs in that area of Southern Utah. That temple is planned to be roughly 90,000 square feet in area, for which I'd anticipate construction will take somewhere around 3 -4 years to complete.
With these announcements, the number of temple groundbreakings that will have occurred after these two now rises to a total of 11 of the 18 for which groundbreakings were anticipated to occur this year, as Elder Bednar indicated would be the case during General Conference roughly 4 months ago. The interesting thing is that, with no specific dates mentioned in connection with either groundbreaking, pinning down the specific iming for these two or any others this year may have just gotten more tricky.
That being said, with the very recent announcement of the somewhat unexpected timing for the groundbreaking of the Brasilia Brazil Temple, which will have that occurring 5 months after its' rendering was released, I don't think we can count out any international temples from that prospect this year either, whether there has been no information confirmed, a site announced, or a rendering released. I am particularly anticipating that the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple, which is set to be built in the nation that has done very well in handling COVID-19, could have a groundbreaking roughly a year after the release of its' rendering.
We could see a scenario wherein all sorts of surprise announcements of an unexpected nature could be coming down the pike relative to any of the announced temples. It will be interesting to see what happens there. In the interim, while I was putting my thoughts together here, a Church News article covering this latest announcement, and that article noted that Sister Gong is a Taylorsville native, so the fact that Elder Gong is being assigned to preside at this groundbreaking also involves a personal connection.
Additionally, above and beyond that, although Elder D. Todd Christofferson had been originally assigned to preside at the Alabang Philippines Temple groundbreaking when it was to take place in early May, when those plans fell through, the Church has had a season of groundbreakings done by either area presidents or area seventies thus far this year. So that means that these temples will be the first this year to have groundbreakings at which a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will have presided.
Aside from these notes, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments, and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such things. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has given a devotional address to missionaries that was carried worldwide:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-08-13/elder-uchtdorf-virtual-missionary-devotional-technology-covid-19-190692
Thanks again, everyone!
Some of the other Utah temples had ground breakings done on date other than what was originally announced to help prevent additional people on trying to show up, so this may be the case with these two. Instead of announcing one date and then doing it on another, just don't announce the actual date until it happens.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about the new temples not having angel Moroni statutes, but I certainly see the reason behind it. What it actually interesting is that some still continue to have them. Perhaps another reason is because more international temples don't so more of the US ones can follow suit so members in other nations don't feel disappointed that their temple doesn't have one.
I continue to find it interesting that the church seems to maintain a 10% ratio of Utah temples, other than a few years when it dipped to 9%. Having lived in Utah for some time, I understand the need. I had to wait in the hallway before even entering the chapel and then wait a few sessions to get in one on a Friday evening once.
Kenny, thank you for sharing these observations. You are correct in all respects. There is a lot to consider with the two latest Utah temples' groundbreaking arrangements. First, depending on where the two apostles will travel from for the groundbreakings, are there any possible county or locality restrictions of which they need to be aware? I'd think that question is less tricky for Elder Gong because he and his wife reside elsewhere in the Salt Lake Valley, so it should just be a matter of driving a few cities over or something. For Elder Holland, who has experienced some recent health challenges and some time in the hospital recently, his continued recovery may impact the timing of the groundbreaking. Then there's the factor of ensuring everyone invited is aware in advance of when it's going to be happening, and making sure the necessary equipment is on hand for the day of those events.
DeleteBut as you noted, sometimes, groundbreaking events, in and outside of Utah, can be subject to changing the dates on which they are arranged. We've seen that recently with the Alabang Philippines and Salta Argentina Temples. COVID-19 is always a factor that needs to be worked around, though that is less problematic in this state, where things have, overall, been well controlled.
As to the Angel Moroni issue you mentioned, Kenny, I know that there are a lot of mixed feelings on when they are included vs. when they are not. I know in my current city, Orem, city leaders had expressed a preference for having the Angel Moroni, but the Brethren wound up deciding on a design that didn't utilize it.
I have previously referenced an article by the Church News that was subsequently shared again in the consolidated Newsroom on the history of the statues and why some temples nowadays are not featuring them:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/why-do-temples-have-the-angel-moroni-on-top-heres-look-at-the-history-of-the-iconic-statues
I ran the numbers yet again today, and with 19 of the temples under construction, 12 will still feature an Angel Moroni statue, a clear majority. With 6 temples that have a groundbreaking scheduled currently, only 2 have been planned with the Angel Moroni statue atop them, which takes that total to 14 out of 25 temples, slimming that majority.
11 other temples have had sites confirmed, and 9 of those have had renderings released. Of those 9, it does not appear that any of them will feature the angel Moroni, meaning that only 14 out of the total 34 will feature that symbol.
But it makes sense that the prophet would opt to use it sparingly as part of his continued inspired efforts to ensure that the Savior is recognized as the crucial part of the Church's name and mission, as we saw in the new symbol he announced for the Church last April. Perhaps the flesible and careful usage of the Angel Moroni atop temples will help them in some cases to be approved more quickly than they might otherwise be, especially in nations where there may be confusion on that point when designs are submitted.
As far as Utah temples go, with President Nelson having announced 2 new ones last October and one more in April of this year, 24 temples out of the 225 total will be in Utah, which is roughly 11% of all temples. And with President Nelson being so vigorous about clearing the queue, by the October General Conference weekend, there will either b4 or 35 announced temples in the current queue, unless other groundbreakings occur unexpectedly in the interim.
DeleteAnd with 2 or 3 that will still have groundbreakings occur after General Conference weekend, and 11 that are figuratively "waiting in the wings" for their groundbreakings, I have a feeling that the Church could not only meet but exceed the goal of having 18 temple groundbreakings this year, which would then clear up the queue more fully for the next 1 or 2 sets of temple announcements. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how the percentage of both Utah temples to all operating temples, and the percentages of temples that do or do not use the Angel Moroni statue will continue to change going forward. In the meantime, Kenny, thanks so much for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you, and hope that these comments can be helpful to you and all others who read them.
One last thing: I seem to recall you mentioning previously that you access this blog on a mobile device or something similar. I have recently made adjustments to the layout and look of this blog for devices other than a desktop or laptop. If you are still accessing this blog with another device, how does the layout and appearance work for you? Thanks for any feedback you may be able to provide on that, Kenny, and again, for commenting above.
Kenny, another thought just occurred to me. For a while after full-scale construction began on the Paris France Temple, it was believed that occurred without a groundbreaking ceremony. However, in a later statement about the Paris France Temple's dedication, Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse shared information indicating the date on which a gorundbreaking had taken place. So there is precedent for the Church not to announce dates in advance in that respect, and I'm sure that a lot of factors went in to determining that the Taylorsville and Red Cliffs Utah Temples would be given a more general time-frame instead of a specific one. Thanks again.
DeleteHello again, everyone! Although it has been a relatively quiet Sunday thus far with no new temple updates or reports on the Newsroom, I wanted to note that for the first time in a long time, the Church News has provided an update on new stakes created or stake presidencies reorganized:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-08-16/learn-about-these-recently-called-stake-presidencies-190303
Some of those reorganizations took place after Acting President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles sent out an aforementioned letter announcing the cancellation of all stake conferences Churchwide through November 1, with a few exceptions when approved:
https://www.ldsliving.com/Stake-conferences-canceled-through-November-1-exceptions-can-be-requested/s/93018
That suggests to me that the Brethren will continue the work of reorganizing stakes as that becomes necessary through technology or other exceptions when it can safely be done, or when the stake president and/or his counselors need to be released to fill other assignments.
In the meantime, I believe Church Growth blog owner Matthew Martinich may have previously covered the creation of the Winder Georgia stake on his blog. But I thought I'd mention this Church News article here for any of my readers who may be interested in that. My thanks once again to you all.
I still have the Paris France Temple listed as no ground breaking. What date did they give?
ReplyDeleteAugust 24, 2012, according to the Church's offical page for that temple:
Deletehttps://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/details/paris-france-temple?lang=eng
I seem to recall an official release from the Church that confirmed that as the date for what was obviously a private and small-scale event, but I can't find it. Hope this information is helpful. Thanks, Kenny!
Yes, the changes made are better than before when everything was super small.
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting back to me on the look of the blog through your device, Kenny! I appreciate the feedback and am glad the previous issues were resolved.
Delete