Beginning Sunday, May 19, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will dedicate five temples over five Sundays, with the first two dedications to be presided over by the same senior leader in a span of a mere 14 days.
Both are noteworthy and uncommon — but each has been replicated recently and in shorter time periods.
Also, the Church will have another two-temple dedication day in June — something that has happened only a handful of times in the past 20 years. But multiple houses of the Lord have been dedicated on the same day three times over the past year and a half, including a three-dedication day just nine months ago.
On May 19, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Puebla Mexico Temple. Two Sundays later, on June 2, he is scheduled to dedicate the Taylorsville Utah Temple.
Three more houses of the Lord will be dedicated on successive Sundays by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — the Cobán Guatemala Temple by Elder Dale G. Renlund on June 9, and then the Salta Argentina Temple by Elder D. Todd Christofferson and the Layton Utah Temple by Elder David A. Bednar, both on June 16.
5 temples over 5 Sundays
While the five dedications over as many weekends — or over a four-week span — is significant, in fall 2023, the Church dedicated five temples in a three-week period. But it took two multidedication days to do that.
On Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, three houses of the Lord were dedicated — the Brasília Brazil, Bentonville Arkansas and Moses Lake Washington temples. Three Sundays later, the McAllen Texas and the Feather River California temples were dedicated. That made for five temples separated by a mere 22 days.
Two Sundays after that, the Bangkok Thailand Temple was dedicated — six houses of the Lord in just 36 days, and each by a different member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
But many temples have been dedicated in shorter times before — with six dedications first in a single calendar month, then later in half the time.
Both times occurred in 2000, when President Gordon B. Hinckley and Church leaders were rushing to meet President Hinckley’s charge to have a worldwide total of 100 dedicated houses of the Lord prior to the end of the 20th century — the end of 2000.
In April 2000, members of the First Presidency dedicated six temples, the first when President Hinckley dedicated the Palmyra New York Temple on Thursday, April 6, 2000, the 170th anniversary of the formal organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Three days later, on Sunday, April 9, 2000, President Hinckley dedicated the Fresno California Temple, with President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicating the Medford Oregon Temple a week later, on April 16.
On Sunday, April 23, 2000, the First Presidency counselors dedicated two temples on the same day — President Faust the Memphis Tennessee Temple and President Thomas S. Monson, the first counselor, the Reno Nevada Temple. The month’s sixth temple dedication came when President Hinckley dedicated the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple on Sunday, April 30.
Two months later — in June 2000 — the Church dedicated another six houses of the Lord in half the time, in 15 days.
It started on Sunday, June 4, 2000, when President Hinckley dedicated the Montreal Quebec Temple and President Faust the San José Costa Rica Temple on the same day. A week later, on June 11, President Hinckley dedicated the Fukuoka Japan Temple.
Then came three more dedications in a South Pacific swing over the next week, with President Hinckley dedicating the Adelaide Australia Temple on Thursday, June 15, 2000; the Melbourne Australia Temple on Friday, June 16; and the Suva Fiji Temple on Sunday, June 18.
Although 12 days remained in the month, the next temple dedications wouldn’t come until July 8-9, 2000, with President Monson dedicating the Mérida Mexico and Veracruz Mexico temples, respectively.
2 dedications in one day
The June 16 dedications of the Salta and Layton temples will mark just the fourth time the Church will have dedicated multiple houses of the Lord on the same day in nearly a quarter-century. All four of those instances have come since Nov. 20, 2022.
On that date, Elder Renlund dedicated the Belém Brazil Temple on the coast of northern Brazil, while Elder Quentin L. Cook dedicated the Quito Ecuador Temple just two hours later in the Andean foothills in north-central Ecuador on the opposite side of South America.
Between then and now came the two multidedication days, in 2023, all done by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
- On Sept. 17, Elder Neil L. Andersen dedicated the Brasília temple, Elder Bednar dedicated the Bentonville temple, and Elder Cook dedicated the Moses Lake temple.
- On Oct. 8, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf dedicated the McAllen temple, and Elder Ulisses Soares dedicated the Feather River temple.
The Church’s first two-dedication day — nearly 25 years ago — wasn’t planned as such.
In November 1999, President Hinckley was scheduled to dedicate temples on back-to-back days — the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple on Saturday, Nov. 13, and the Regina Saskatchewan Temple on Sunday Nov. 14.
However, mechanical issues with the airplane President Hinckley was to use resulted in a day’s delay. The decision was made to have the Church President dedicate the Halifax temple a day later and President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, to preside at the Regina dedication on its regularly scheduled date. The result — the Halifax and Regina temple dedications occurring on Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999.
The next year, as the Church continued its push to meet President Hinckley’s announced goal to have 100 dedicated temples by the end of the century, same-day dedications occurred three times in 2000 — a fourth if you count what happened in Mexico in February of that year.
On Saturday Feb. 26, 2000, President Hinckley presided at the first of six sessions for the two-day dedication of the Ciudad Juárez Mexico Temple. But then he left to preside over the Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Temple on Sunday, Feb. 27, with President Monson, finishing the final sessions in Ciudad Juarez while President Hinckley did the Hermosillo temple dedication.
The three other instances of same-day dedications:
- On Sunday, April 23, 2000, President Faust dedicated the Memphis Tennessee Temple while President Monson dedicated the Reno Nevada Temple. And President Hinckley would dedicate the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple a week later.
- On Sunday, May 21, 2000, President Faust dedicated the Nashville Tennessee Temple while President Monson dedicated the Villahermosa Mexico Temple — with the latter having dedicated the Tampico Mexico Temple the day before.
- And on June 4, 2000, President Hinckley dedicated the Montreal Quebec Temple as President Faust dedicated the San José Costa Rica Temple. President Hinckley then left for the Pacific Rim and South Pacific to dedicate four additional temples over the next two weeks — the first in Japan, then followed by two dedications in Australia and one in Fiji.
2 temples in succession by 1 leader
When Elder Gong dedicates the Puebla temple on May 19 and the Taylorsville temple two Sundays later, on June 2, it will be a rare occurrence over the past half-dozen years in which the same senior Church leader dedicates two temples in succession.
But not so rare that it didn’t happen just four months ago — and in a tighter time frame.
On Sunday, Jan. 14, Elder Christofferson dedicated the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple, the second house of the Lord in Peru’s capital city. On the following Sunday, Jan. 21, he dedicated the Orem Utah Temple, the first in that city but one of 30 total temples dedicated or under construction in Utah and the sixth in the state’s centrally located Utah County.
Prior to Elder Christofferson’s Los Olivos and Orem assignments, the last Church leader to preside at back-to-back dedications — but not on successive weekends — was Elder Ucthdorf. As second counselor in the First Presidency, then-President Uchtdorf dedicated the Tucson Arizona Temple on Aug. 13, 2017, and then the Meridian Idaho Temple three months later on Nov. 19, 2017.
What makes Elder Christofferson’s and Elder Gong’s successive temple dedications significant is the number of Church leaders dedicating and rededicating houses of the Lord in the six years of President Russell M. Nelson’s tenure as President of the Church. To date, 31 temples have been dedicated and 16 renovated temples rededicated.
Previous Church presidents and their First Presidency counselors dedicated most new temples, with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles occasionally called on to preside.
Over much of the past six years, President Nelson has assigned nearly all of the temple dedications and rededications to his counselors — President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring — and to members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Of sharing the workload of a global Church, including the temple dedications and rededications with his counselors and the members of the Twelve, President Nelson asked several questions during an interview in São Paulo, Brazil, during his September 2019 global ministry in South America: “Have you ever been a father and taken children on a fishing trip? Are you happy catching a fish? Are you happier watching your children catch a fish?”
However, the three members of the First Presidency themselves each dedicated or rededicated a temple over a 35-day span — President Eyring dedicating the Red Cliffs Utah Temple on March 24, President Nelson rededicating the historic Manti Utah Temple, and President Oaks dedicating the Urdaneta Philippines Temple on April 28. These are the three most recent dedications or rededications.
