BOUNTIFUL, Utah, March 23, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The Bountiful Temple has become the first in Utah to close its doors amid coronavirus concerns.
On March 13, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles sent a letter to Church members around the world detailing temporary changes to temple worship worldwide, said a news release from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The adjustments impacted the scheduling and availability of living ordinances in many temples and took effect March 16.
On Sunday night, 13 more temples were added to the list of those that have now closed (see below), with the Bountiful temple being one of these.
The letter sent to members said:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Rapidly changing health conditions around the world have been a source of growing concern. Many governments have placed restrictions that have required the temporary closure of a number of temples. As we have prayerfully sought to balance these limitations with the need to carry on temple work, we have decided to make the following temporary adjustments, which are effective March 16, 2020 for all temples around the world.
- Where government or other restrictions on public and/or religious gatherings would, in effect, preclude temple activity, proxy and living ordinances will temporarily be suspended.
- Where government or other restrictions do not preclude all temple activity, the following temple ordinances for living persons will be accommodated as capacity permits by appointment only: husband-and-wife and child-to-parents sealing ordinances and living initiatory and endowment ordinances. On a temporary basis, proxy temple ordinances will not be performed.
- All patron housing will be closed.
Church members will be provided with instructions when they schedule their appointments for living ordinances. Individuals with currently scheduled appointments will be contacted by temple staff.
Steps will be taken in all temples to minimize the risk of spreading disease, including reducing temple staff, limiting guests at living ordinances, and following guidelines for interacting with patrons.
Additional information will be provided to temple presidencies, and further adjustments will be made as necessary.
We look forward with great anticipation to the time when temples can again operate at full capacity and extend the blessings of temple work to members and their ancestors.
Sincerely,
The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The following temples are temporarily closed due to COVID-19 restrictions (note that this list does not include temples that are closed for maintenance and scheduled to reopen with limited operations when completed):
- Aba Nigeria Temple
- Accra Ghana Temple
- Adelaide Australia Temple
- Apia Samoa Temple
- Arequipa Peru Temple
- Asunción Paraguay Temple
- Barranquilla Colombia Temple
- Baton Rouge Lousiana Temple
- Bern Switzerland Temple
- Bogota Colombia Temple
- Bountiful Utah Temple
- Brisbane Australia Temple
- Buenos Aires Argentina Temple
- Campinas Brazil Temple
- Caracas Venezuela Temple
- Cebu City Philippines Temple
- Chicago Illinois Temple
- Cochabamba Bolivia Temple
- Columbia River Washington Temple
- Columbus Ohio Temple
- Copenhagen Denmark Temple
- Córdoba Argentina Temple
- Curitiba Brazil Temple
- Detroit Michigan Temple
- Fortaleza Brazil Temple
- Frankfurt Germany Temple
- Freiberg Germany Temple
- Fresno California Temple
- Fukuoka Japan Temple
- Guadalajara Mexico Temple
- Guatemala City Guatemala Temple
- Guayaquil Ecuador Temple
- Halifax Nova Scotia Temple
- Hartford Connecticut Temple
- Helsinki Finland Temple
- Kansas City Missouri Temple
- Kinshasa DR Congo Temple
- Kyiv Ukraine Temple
- Las Vegas Nevada Temple
- Lima Peru Temple
- Lisbon Portugal Temple
- London England Temple
- Los Angeles California Temple
- Louisville Kentucky Temple
- Madrid Spain Temple
- Manaus Brazil Temple
- Manhattan New York Temple
- Manila Philippines Temple
- Melbourne Australia Temple
- Montreal Quebec Temple
- Nauvoo Illinois Temple
- Newport Beach California Temple
- Oakland California Temple
- Palmyra New York Temple
- Panama City Panama Temple
- Papeete Tahiti Temple
- Paris France Temple
- Perth Australia Temple
- Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple
- Porto Alegre Brazil Temple
- Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple
- Portland Oregon Temple
- Preston England Temple
- Quetzaltenango Guatemala Temple
- Recife Brazil Temple
- Redlands California Temple
- Regina Saskatchewan Temple
- Reno Nevada Temple
- Rexburg Idaho Temple
- Rome Italy Temple
- Sacramento California Temple
- San Diego California Temple
- San Salvador El Salvador Temple
- Santiago Chile Temple
- Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple
- São Paulo Brazil Temple
- Sapporo Japan Temple
- Seattle Washington Temple
- Seoul Korea Temple
- St. Louis Missouri Temple
- Stockholm Sweden Temple
- Sydney Australia Temple
- Taipei Taiwan Temple
- Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple
- The Hague Netherlands Temple
- Toronto Ontario Temple
- Trujillo Peru Temple
- Tucson Arizona Temple
See the temple status FAQ for regular updates that explain several of the temporary adjustments to temple worship.
