ST. GEORGE — Nearly four years after ground was broken for the second Latter-day Saint Temple in the St. George area, hundreds of people gathered Sunday at that very spot for two dedicatory sessions for the Red Cliffs Utah Temple while thousands more watched the sessions from the nearby chapel.
Dedicating the new temple on Sunday was President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the church’s First Presidency. He is one of three men who make up the top leadership of the Utah-based church.
“You will find a joy in your service here that is available in no other way,” Eyring said in the temple’s first of two dedicatory sessions, according to a church press release.
The LDS faith sees its temples as “Houses of the Lord” where the presence of God dwells and faithful members can go to experience a sense of spiritual peace and insight. The temples are also the places where church members engage in proxy work for dead relatives that the LDS church is generally known for.
As Eyring continued to oversee the dedication, he noted his Southern Utah family ties.
“My faith is strengthened whenever I come to this area,” he said. “This ground was made sacred to my family and to me by the faith of ancestors now in the spirit world. Their faith in God, in temples, and in prophets carried them through the difficult times that come into every life. My great-grandfather, Henry Eyring, was one of the pioneers of the St. George area. He served as a recorder in the St. George Utah Temple. I can only imagine his joy to know that there is now a second temple in St. George.”
Eyring was accompanied by Elder Patrick Kearon, the church’s newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and his wife Jennifer; Elder Kevin W. Pearson, Utah Area President, and his wife June; and Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt of the Seventy and his wife Alexis.
Serving as the new temple’s president and temple matron are local couple John and Debra Ence who were called to the position in March 2023.
The Red Cliffs Temple was announced in October 2018 and is one of 28 temples dedicated, under construction or being renovated in Utah. The exact location was announced in 2019 and sits near the intersection of 3000 East and George Washington Boulevard. Prior to the announcement, the land the temple would be built on was leased to local farmer Ralph Staheli who used it to grow feed for his livestock.
While he said at the time that he was sad to see more agricultural land disappear, Staheli remarked that the new temple would “make the valley bloom, that’s for sure.”
An official rendering of the Red Cliffs Temple was released in April 2020, with the groundbreaking ceremony, presided over by LDS apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, occurring in November of the same year.
Before the three-story, 96,277-square-foot temple was dedicated, it was open to the public tours for a month, starting with tours offered to local media and public officials.
St. George News evening editor Vin Cappiello attended the tour and shared his thoughts on the experience in an article here.
The temple’s interior and exterior motifs resemble the environment surrounding the St. George area and were inspired by Southern Utah’s grand cottonwood trees and its numerous mountains and canyons. Several paintings depicting scenes from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, church history and portraits of Jesus Christ also adorn the inside of the new temple.
“May (the temple) be ever sacred to those who enter it and to all who look upon it,” Eyring said in a dedicatory prayer. “Bless them to feel (God’s) presence and a sense of hope and a desire to draw closer to Thee and to Thy Son.”
The significance of temples to Latter-day Saints
Latter-day Saint temples are considered “Houses of the Lord” for members of the faith and are among their most sacred places of worship.
A primary purpose of temples is for faithful church members to participate in ceremonies related to marriage as well as proxy baptisms and other ordinances on behalf of deceased ancestors.
Temples also are central to the church’s longstanding doctrine related to the “eternal nature of the family,” which teaches a family unit can be “sealed” together for eternity in the afterlife.
It is taught that the eternal binding of the family can extend back through the generations, which is why Latter-day Saints place heavy emphasis on genealogical research. It allows them to find ancestors whose names they can take to a temple where proxy ceremonies on behalf of that ancestor can be performed.
The temples also are considered a place Latter-day Saints can go to find peace and comfort in the face of difficult times or trying decisions as they seek to connect with the Almighty.
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