Later this fall, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will dedicate seven new temples over four consecutive Sundays.
In November 1999, a plane’s mechanical failure resulted in two temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being dedicated on the same calendar date — the Church’s first same-day dedications of two of its houses of the Lord.
Three similar same-day dedications were scheduled and realized the following year, with a break of more than two decades before two houses of the Lord were dedicated on the same date in 2022.
Same-day dedications happened twice in 2023 — including the first day of three temples being dedicated — and once again in 2024.
Already in 2026, the Church has had two same-day temple dedications, with another pair to be dedicated on the same August Sunday.
And then later this year, the Church will dedicate seven new temples over a period of four consecutive Sundays — the most temple dedications in the shortest period of time, and each in a separate state or country.
The seven houses of the Lord — the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala, Ephraim Utah, Managua Nicaragua, Montpelier Idaho, Cody Wyoming, San Luis Potosi and Wichita Kansas temples — will each be dedicated on one of four Sundays: Oct. 11, Oct. 18, Oct. 25 or Nov. 1.
And three of those Sundays will see double temple dedications — the first time so many same-day dedications have come so close together.
Combining all the completed and scheduled temple dedications to date, the Church will have seven same-day temple dedications in 2026 — or half of the total since 1999 in just a single year. And those seven same-day dedications will have occurred over just a six-month period.
Through June 28, the First Presidency has announced the following dedications of houses of the Lord and respective assigned leader to preside during that four-weekend period:
- Sunday, Oct. 11 — the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple, with Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday, Oct. 11 — the Ephraim Utah Temple, with Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday, Oct. 18 — the Managua Nicaragua Temple, with Elder Rasband
- Sunday, Oct. 18 — the Montpelier Idaho Temple, with a presiding leader still to be announced
- Sunday, Oct. 25 — the Cody Wyoming Temple, also with a presiding leader still to be announced
- Sunday, Nov. 1 — the San Luis Potosí Mexico Temple, with Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday, Nov. 1 — the Wichita Kansas Temple, with Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday, Nov. 22 — the Modesto California Temple, with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The Church currently has 385 total houses of the Lord, including 219 dedicated temples and under construction, 11 scheduled for dedication, 50 under construction and five scheduled for groundbreaking. The 100 temples in planning and design complete the total of 385.
“What a blessing it is that so many temples have been announced,” said Elder Cook, who chairs the Church’s Temple and Family History Executive Council, to the Church News.
“It is amazing to see firsthand the construction and dedication of these new temples — sometimes two on the same day.
“We are grateful for the spiritual guidance President Dallin H. Oaks is receiving as the hastening of God’s work continues in a dramatic fashion.”
Following is a closer look at past same-day dedications and dedications conducted during a short time frame.
Same-day dedications
In reality, the Church’s first two-dedication day wasn’t planned as such.
In November 1999, Church President Gordon B. 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 jet President Hinckley was to use resulted in a day’s delay. The decision was made to have him dedicate the Halifax temple a day later than planned, with President Boyd K. Packer, the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to preside at the Regina dedication on its scheduled date. The result: the Halifax and Regina temple dedications both occurred 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.
- On Sunday, April 23, 2000, President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Memphis Tennessee Temple while President Thomas S. Monson, then First Presidency first counselor, dedicated the Reno Nevada Temple.
- 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 Sunday, 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 from June 11 through June 18.
Two decades later, the Church once again had two new houses of the Lord dedicated on the same day, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022 — the Belém Brazil Temple and the Quito Ecuador Temple, by Elder Renlund and Elder Cook.
And 10 months later, another historic multiple-dedication day occurred — Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, marked the first and only time so far of three houses of the Lord being dedicated on the same day in three distant cities about as different and diverse as can be. The Apostles doing the dedications were Elder Neil L. Andersen at the Brasília Brazil Temple, Elder David A. Bednar at the Bentonville Arkansas Temple and Elder Cook at the Moses Lake Washington Temple.
Three Sundays later, another two houses of the Lord were dedicated on Oct. 8, 2023, the McAllen Texas Temple by then-Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and the Feather River California Temple by Elder Ulisses Soares, both of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
On Sunday, June 16, 2024, then-Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Salta Argentina Temple, and Elder Bednar dedicated the Layton Utah Temple.
In 2026, two same-Sunday dedications occurred five weeks apart. On May 3, President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Lindon Utah Temple, while halfway around the world, Elder Renlund dedicated the Davao Philippines Temple. And on June 7, President Christofferson, now second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Yorba Linda California Temple, and President Uchtdorf, now acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, dedicated the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple.
Multiple dedications in short periods of time
The seven dedications of houses of the Lord from Oct. 11 through Nov. 1 will be the Church’s most temple dedications for the Church over a four-weekend period. But a number of multiweek periods during the aforementioned push for completed temples in 2000 rival the seven-over-four stretch.
And in 2000, the three members of the First Presidency — President Hinckley and his counselors, President Monson and President Faust — were the ones dedicating the temples, unlike today, with dedications spread out among the 15 members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Also, a number of the dedications that year were conducted on successive weekend days, not just on Sundays. Some others were done on weekdays.
Early in 2000, the Church had six temple dedications over a four-weekend period from late February to mid-March. First, President Hinckley dedicated Ciudad Juárez Mexico Temple on Saturday, Feb. 26; the Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Temple on Sunday, Feb. 27; and the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple on Sunday, March 5. Then President Faust dedicated the Oaxaca Mexico Temple on Saturday, March 11, and the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple on Sunday, March 12, followed by the Sunday, March 19, dedication of the Louisville Kentucky Temple by President Monson.
Less than a month later, the Church had five dedications over four Sundays — the Fresno California Temple by President Hinckley on April 9, the Medford Oregon Temple by President Faust on April 16, the aforementioned April 23 dedications of the Memphis temple (by President Faust) and Reno temple (President Monson) and the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple by President Hinckley on April 30.
And that doesn’t include the Thursday, April 6, dedication of the Palmyra New York Temple by President Hinckley, making it six dedications of houses of the Lord over a period of three and a half weeks.
Six temple dedications were spread over a period of three weekends — actually, just 15 days — in June 2000, beginning with the aforementioned June 4 dedications of the Montreal and San José temples. Those were followed by four Eastern Hemisphere dedications by President Hinckley beginning a week later — the Fukuoka Japan Temple on Sunday, June 11, the Adelaide Australia Temple on Thursday, June 15, the Melbourne Australia Temple on Friday, June 16, and the Suva Fiji Temple on Sunday, June 18.
If you skip over Memorial Day weekend in 2000 and add in the three dedications the preceding weekend, that’s nine dedications of houses of the Lord happening over a period of five weekends. That includes the Saturday, May 20, dedication of the Tampico Mexico Temple by President Monson, the Sunday, May 21, dedications of the Nashville Tennessee Temple by President Faust and the Villahermosa Mexico Temple by President Monson.
And in 2023, five temples were dedicated over four weekends, with an October general conference conducted in between. Actually, the five came via just two same-dedication Sundays — Sept. 17 with the Brasília, Bentonville and Moses Lake temples; and Oct. 8 with the McAllen and Feather River temples.
