President Russell M. Nelson, the 100-year-old leader of the 195-year-old Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be on hand June 8 for the dedication of the Syracuse Temple in northern Utah.
His dedicatory prayer, however, will be prerecorded.
That follows a pattern of the most recent dedications Nelson has participated in, church officials confirmed Monday, including the Manti Temple rededication in April 2024 and Tooele’s Deseret Peak Temple dedication in November.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) President Russell M. Nelson, center, arrives at the Deseret Peak Utah Temple for its dedication in November 2024. Nelson is joined by Brian K. Taylor, general authority Seventy, and his wife, Jill Taylor, far left); apostle Gary E. Stevenson and his wife Lesa, left; Nelson's wife, Wendy Nelson; Brook P. Hales, general authority Seventy, and his wife, Denise (right); and Kevin R. Duncan, General Authority Seventy, and his wife Nancy, right.
The centenarian religious leader also attended in person the faith’s closing session of April General Conference, where his sermon was prerecorded.
A news release Monday announced that the prophet-president will be accompanied to Syracuse, on the east shore of the Great Salt Lake in Davis County, by apostle Quentin L. Cook.
The dedication will take place at 4 p.m. MDT and “will be broadcast to local meetinghouses within the temple district,” the release stated. The ceremony will then be rebroadcast to those meetinghouses at 7 that night.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Celestial Room in Utah's Syracuse Temple.
Utah is home to 32 planned or existing Latter-day Saint temples. For members, these sacred buildings represent Houses of the Lord and, unlike their more common meetinghouses, are places where devout members participate in their highest religious rites such as eternal marriage.