Hello again, everyone! As March draws to a close and April begins, I wanted to provide a look back at temple construction progress during this first quarter of 2025. As a reminder, this is where things stood on the first day of this year, while this is where things stand as we close out this first quarter of 2025. Of course, this update will actually be outdated by this upcoming General Conference weekend, within which additional new temples will be announced.
Stay tuned here for updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites, in addition to any major updates coming during General Conference weekend. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below.
Not attempting to be nit-picky, but there's a few errors I have to point out, primarily with the numbering of a few temples. Some may not be errors, but just seemed a little off to me.
ReplyDeleteCagayan de Oro Philippines Temple labeled #256 which is ahead of Tarawa Kiribati #251, Cal Colombia #252, Birmingham England #253, and Antananarivo Madagascar #254.
There is no #255 anywhere in the document, which would place Retalhuleu Guatemala (most recent temple with a rendering revealed) at 294 instead of 295.
Heber Valley Utah Temple labeled #263 (probably not an error as its currently likely that this temple will not begin construction for quite some time, but still need to point out) after the 5 temples scheduled for groundbreaking, but still above them in the document.
#286 is incorrectly labeled Winchester Pennsylvania Temple, which should be Virginia.
#293 Should have the word "City" after Tuguegarao.
Kahului Hawaii and Roanoke Virginia are both labeled #315.
And there are a few temples outside of the United States missing accents over some letters (Bahía Blanca Argentina, Torreón Mexico, San Luis Potosí Mexico, Querétaro Mexico, Vitória Brazil, Culiacán Mexico, Cancún Mexico, and Florianópolis Brazil) These are probably not errors, but I did notice that several other temples in the document had the accents correctly shown.
- I will also note that the French name for Ivory Coast is used for the Abidjan Temple in the document, while the official name in English remains Ivory Coast, at least for the Church's naming purposes. It was a similar case regarding the Praia Cape Verde Temple.
Aside from that, I do think that the Tampa Florida Temple could easily have a groundbreaking later this year, despite the fact that the site was recently changed. A fence was just set up around the current site, and it appears demolition of the current structure will begin in the next short while.
The McKinney Texas Temple lawsuit is currently not being pursued, but it remains to be seen if Fairview does actually honor the agreement and whether or not residents will attempt to sue the town for approving the new plan.
I am still surprised that the Santiago West Chile Temple wasn't given another name, at least for now. The naming convention is also a little messy right now. For example: Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple compared to Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple and (for now) Houston Texas South Temple compared to São Paulo East Brazil Temple. Also having Buenos Aires CIty Center Argentina, while the 2nd Provo temple is simply Provo City Center and not Provo Utah City Center to match the future Rock Canyon Temple. For some reason, Google Maps has the Salt Lake Temple listed as Salt Lake Utah Temple. Final note on this subject are the temples in Colonia Juárez Chihuahua and Hermosillo Sonora being the only temples in Mexico that have the State in their official names. I wonder if these would ever change whenever these temples close for renovation at some point in the future.
I haven't really followed these construction progress updates very much, so I am curious. How accurate have your estimates been specifically for groundbreakings? I figure those are difficult to estimate, especially when temples without site confirmations occasionally have groundbreakings scheduled.
I have read your above comment and want to provide the best possible response. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, thanks for taking time to comment!
DeleteSorry for the lengthy comment
DeleteIt's not a problem at all. I'm always happy to address earnest feedback regardless of length l. You asked some great questions. I will try to give you a great answer in reply ASAP. Thanks again.
DeleteLet me now attempt to respond to your feedback:
Delete1. Regarding the numbering for the Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple vs. the three that most recently had a groundbreaking, the Church of Jesus Christ Temples site actually has put the Tarawa temple, which is smaller than Cagayan de Oro, just above it, with a late 2027 estimate for Cagayan de Oro. The Tarawa, Cali Colombia, Antananarivo Madagascar, and Birmingham England Temples are all smaller in size, with at least a couple of those planned to be the modular design, which are constructed in about half the time it takes to build bigger temples, so if construction can soon start on all of those smaller temples, they will likely be dedicate several months or even a year or two before larger temples like Cagayan de Oro and the Tacloban City Philippines Temple.
Continuing my answers:
Delete2. I am indeed missing #255. I will be sure to fix that for future reports. As the son of a proofreader who has editing and proofreading experience in his own right, Ithat was a very obvious error on my part. Thanks for letting me know about that. I think I will be making Lethbridge Alberta #255, since temples in the US and Canada, regardless of size, are usually completed much sooner than their counterparts outside of North America.
3. As you observed, the Heber Valley Utah Temple may be unlikely to have construction commencement for a while. That is why, in my renumbering process, I now have it listed as #262.
4. I have fixed the very valid and correct issues you raised regarding the Winchester and Tuguegarao temples. Those changes will be reflected on my next posted report, which, barring anything massively changing, will be posted here at the end of the second quarter of 2025 (in the late hours just before June 30 becomes July 1).
5. I found a misnumbering we both missed earlier on in the document, and fixing that fixed the problem you mentioned with Kahului and Roanoke having the same numbering. That will also be reflected in my next report.
6. Regarding the accent marks for temples outside the United States, you are correct that they are missing from my reports. I pull most of the data in these reports from the Church of Jesus Christ Temples site, which doesn't always use the accent marks either. But I will definitely give some thought to adding them in based on your observations about their omissiion.
7. I agree with you (to a certain extent) on the Tampa Florida Temple. The latest update on that temple bears out what you said. But if you look at that temple's current status, that update has not yet been reflected. Once that status has been updated, I will update my document accordingly.
Finishing my responses:
Delete8. I agree with you regarding the McKinney Texas matter, in addition to what you said about the Saintago West Chile Temple. As far as the other temples you named, I don't necessarily agree that the naming convention is "kind of messy." It's more a case of different prophets using different methods and getting different inspiration regarding temple names. It's also possibly due to the fact that different countries have different naming conventions, and that this is reflected in the naming choices that have been made. I have no particular insight into how and in what way other temples might possibly be renamed (I was surprised by the renaming of the Provo Temple and have been wondering if the iconic Salt Lake Temple might get a renaming when it is rededicated.)
9. My estimates for dedication windows and groundbreakings are just that, estimates, and subject to change as more information comes to light. That being said, my projected dates for the dedication of the Farmington New Mexico Temple just happened to match up with that window. As far as groundbreaking estimates go, the four groundbreakings announced most recently weren't anywhere near my estimate for them, as the earliest I had estimated them for was sometime next year. I have a network of Church member contacts who keep me informed on local developments, so from that feedback, and from data I receive courtesy of the Church Temples site, I can make pretty well-informed estimates that are well within that range. But I seem to miss estimatete-wise slightly more than I get right, so it's somewhat subjective.
I hope these answers address your questions adequately. If you have any other feedback/questions, I'd welcome the chance to address that as well. Thanks, Noah, for taking time to comment. I appreciate hearing from you.
Yeah, that answers everything. I'm hoping construction will begin soon on the temples that have had groundbreakings; even if there isn't an update on them for a while, construction may have or be about to begin. I also wasn't shocked to see groundbreakings announced for the 4 most recent ones, but I was surprised that these announcements occurred before several US temples have dates announced. Hopefully a rendering will be provided for the Charlotte temple in a few weeks, especially since minor construction/demolition work on the site occurred quite a while ago.
DeleteI do remember hearing from someone a while back...not sure if it was on the church growth blog orFacebook, that there are some members in Hawaii anticipating the Honolulu Temple being a renovation of the Honolulu Tabernacle. It would certainly be an interesting choice for said temple. I wouldn't be surprised if the church does go down that route, but I still find it more likely that they will find an open lot for a new structure.a
Noah, sorry fory delayed response to your comment above. Thanks for these additional thoughts. I also hope that construction will soon begin for the three that are around the same size. It would be awesome if those three smaller temples are able to have full-scale construction efforts begin before ground is broken on the Lethbridge Alberta Temple or the other four scheduled temple groundbreakings. I have high hopes for a lot of great temple news. Interesting rumor about the Honolulu Tabernacle. Thanks for sharing that and for your inquiries on my latest updates. I appreciate hearing from you!
DeleteHello again, everyone! It has been a few days since my last comment, with the exception of my commments replying to Noah above. I have had other things I've needed to prioritize (including my personal preparation for General Conference) so I will refer anyone interested in the latest updates to the websites I shared in the sidebar. Tomorrow is the first day of General Conference Leadership Meetings, so I am expecting at some point that we will be getting a new list of area seventies that will be sustained as a group in General Conference, and the latest list of area seventies that will be released before or on August 1, and I will be sure to provide links to my documents of those updates as fast as I am able to make that happen once the announcement is released. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteThe second reference to "comments" in my comment above has too many "m"s. My computer key got stuck. My apologies for that error.
DeleteIn this morning's General Conference Leadership Session, the callings of 78 new area Seventies and the releases of 57 by or before August 1 were presented. Those changes will be presented for ratification this weekend, most likely during the Saturday Morning Session. My thanks once again to you all.
Delete