100 temples and then, another 100 started
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President Gordon B. Hinckley's accomplishments with temples will sound across the decades, reverberating in strength and significance as the years go by.
History will remember him as one who understood the importance of temples and moved forward accordingly.
President Hinckley's efforts in this area have increased the number of temples, seen rebuilding of the Nauvoo Illinois Temple, brought temples to members in distant locations, simplified obtaining names for temple work, affirmed the sanctity of the temple and helped people understand the urgency of entering into binding, eternal covenants. He dedicated 85 temples and rededicated another 10.
After everything, he never tired of expounding the urgency of the work. For example, he was the final speaker at the final session at the dedication of the distant Guayaquil Ecuador Temple Aug. 22, 1999. The hour was late, the weather hot; this was his fourth session of the day.
But he still had more to say. As President Hinckley became passionate, members in the overflow areas who had come long distances by bus were captivated. The heat and fatigue were forgotten; the interpreter caught the passion as the Church leader emphasized over and over the sacredness of temple work, the obligation to do ordinance work for their kindred dead. It was as though he just couldn't say enough before time ran out.
Time is always an issue in temple work. When he announced the small temples, he also set a time frame in which the goal of 100 operating temples was to be reached — before the end of the year 2000. And when the Nauvoo Illinois Temple was built, it was completed on a fast-track schedule.
This magnificent building was the culmination of his lifetime in temple work.
"It was a great and marvelous occasion, one to be long remembered," he said of its dedication. "We not only dedicated a magnificent building, a House of the Lord, but we also dedicated a beautiful memorial to the Prophet Joseph Smith."
His association with temple work started early in his career. One of the first major assignments came in the fall of 1953, after President David O. McKay had broken ground for the Swiss Temple. Brother Hinckley, then secretary of the Radio, Publicity and Mission Literature Committee, was asked by the leader, in effect, to pioneer temple technology so as to provide simultaneous instruction in multiple languages, a challenge that led to the first temple film. The project ended so successfully that the young man remained closely associated with temple work for the rest of his life.
He soon helped with the dedications at the Los Angeles, New Zealand and London temples. Other assignments came. By the time he was called to the First Presidency in 1981, he was schooled with 28 years of major responsibility regarding temples and temple work.
Soon after President Hinckley's sustaining into the First Presidency, ill health prevented President Spencer W. Kimball from dedicating the ambitious slate of temples he had announced a year earlier. Both other counselors were in poor health as well, so the youngest counselor was called upon and dedicated temples in 16 nations. In doing so he developed a rhythm that would be followed in 2000.
He began with the Atlanta Georgia Temple in 1983, the 21st temple, and then dedicated a string of 17 additional temples. In 1985, newly sustained President Ezra Taft Benson dedicated the next three, but when ill health slowed this great leader, then-first counselor President Hinckley dedicated another string of four. The next Church president, President Howard W. Hunter, dedicated two during his tenure, in which he emphasized "All roads lead to the temple."
As president of the Church succeeding President Hunter, President Hinckley followed that counsel with an emphasis that led to his dedication of 62 more temples and rededication of two. Another 14 were dedicated by his counselors, President Thomas S. Monson, six (he earlier also dedicated the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple), President James E. Faust, seven, and President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, one.
In announcing new temples, President Hinckley expanded on the concept that was begun by President Kimball in 1981, initiating the plan for smaller temples in international settings. President Hinckley built them yet smaller and in much more distant and developing nations. Indeed, the plan for the small temples may be the hallmark of his presidency. President Hinckley told Dell Van Orden, then editor of the Church News, (see Aug. 1, 1998, Church News) that the inspiration for the smaller temples came while he was in Colonia Juarez, Mexico.
"As we were riding to El Paso, I reflected on what we could do to help these people in the Church colonies in Mexico," President Hinckley said. "They've been so very faithful over the years."
He said as they quietly drove along, "I thought of these things and what could be done. The concept of these smaller temples came into my mind. I concluded we didn't need the laundry. We didn't need to rent temple clothing. We didn't need eating facilities."
President Hinckley explained that all the necessary features of a temple could be incorporated into a smaller structure, one that could be constructed in a relatively short period of time.
Once on the airplane, he said, "I took a piece of paper and sketched out the (floor) plan, and turned it over to the architects to refine it. The concept is beautiful," he said. "It's a very workable concept."
The concept was pioneered in Monticello, Utah, and afterward, 47 temples of that design of about 10,500 square feet were erected in 20 states and 11 other nations, including nine in Mexico, four in Canada and four in Australia. Also, existing Church buildings in Vernal, Utah, Copenhagen, Denmark and Manhattan, N.Y., were remodeled into temples.
At the dedication of the Boston Massachusetts Temple on Oct. 1, 2000 — the culmination of the effort to build 100 temples — he expressed in the dedicatory prayer his deep feelings of gratitude for the event:
"This temple becomes the 100th operating temple of Thy Church. We have looked forward to this occasion. We have prayed for this day. We extend our gratitude to all who have labored so faithfully and diligently, often in the face of serious opposition, to bring to pass the miracle of the completion of this temple. To us it is indeed a miracle."
No statistics measure the blessings of temple ordinances that have come to members the world over who lacked the means to travel to a temple. Perhaps it is their progress in the gospel — the progress of the humble people in rural corners of developing nations who have become "forever families" — that will speak most eloquently of the contribution made by President Gordon Bitner Hinckley — the legacy of a man who made an eternal difference in the lives of so many.
E-mail to: jhart@desnews.com
