Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the Newsroom and the Church News have outlined a new letter from the First Presidency, which sets forth the conditions under which each temple of the Church will gradually and eventually transition to phase 4 (normal operations). Let's break down the details:
Because immunizations against COVID-19 and its' variants are up worldwide, and since infections, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the downward trend in some parts of the world, the First Presidency is inviting temple presidencies, in consultation with each of the 22 area presidencies worldwide, and with the approval to do so from local medical professionals who shape community guidelines and from the Church's Temple Department, temples of the Church worldwide will gradually be able to transition to phase 4.
Temple presidencies have been invited to look at the best and safest ways to return temple worship to normal pre-pandemic levels. That process and the associated timeline will look different everywhere the Church has established a temple. Obviously, for example, the temples not yet in phase 3 (including the temple in Kyiv Ukraine) will be subject to unique circumstances, which would make the process of reopening temples at full capacity different in Kyiv than it would be elsewhere in Europe.
I anticipated that temples in the US and Canada, where the variants are more controlled, will be opening faster than those temples in, for example, Africa and Europe, where both the variants' effects and unique circumstances of war or other man-made or natural conditions, make opening the temples normally inadvisable for the time being.
In any case, this is yet another example where the First Presidency is saying that area leaders, medical professionals, temple presidencies, and the Temple Department are better qualified to make these calls than the Brethren at the general level. And it mirrors the process from a few months ago, wherein local stake and ward leaders could, with the approval of the area presidency and medical professionals, determine how and when to return to unrestricted meetings.
Right now, with what is known at the general level, the Church has 8 temples closed for renovation, all of which are in phase 3, allowing members in those districts to schedule phase 3 work at the closest temple available to them. The Kyiv Ukraine Temple was in phase 3 but is paused in view of the ongoing war with Russia (which has seen the destruction of several prominent facilities in Ukraine, but which miraculously has left the temple unaffected).
One more temple (Suva Fiji) is in phase 1. And with 0 temples currently in phase 2 or 2-B, that leaves the remaining 160 in phase 3 currently. Since the announcement of the eventual transition to phase 4 was not expected this soon, I imagine the Church News might have regular reports available on which temples worldwide have transitioned to phase 4 and are no longer affected by restrictions.
When those changes are available, they will be noted on the temple reopening status tracker, which has not been updated since last Tuesday morning. As I learn about those updates, I will do my level best to pass them along to you all here. I also continue to closely monitor all Church News reports and temple construction updates and will bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of such developments.
In the meantime, 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 feedback offered is consistent with 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. 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.
