The church says seeing the US church gives an idea of what the new Auckland temple will be like. Video / Supplied
Cladding is going on a soaring new multi-million dollar Manukau Mormon church above the motorway, with the steel steeple framework up and that part about to be enclosed.
The temple is for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often referred to as Mormons, although many members object tobeing called that.
The church is finishing the new building on land it owns at 19 Redoubt Rd, valued by Auckland Council at $36 million.
Builders are using scissor lifts on the city-side exterior, continuing the cladding work.
Groundworks on the surrounding site are under way.
“You will see that there are several rooms in each temple. The design helps participants move seamlessly through the rooms in which sacred ordinances or ceremonies are performed,” Hunter said.
The Washington temple has stairs up to a grand entranceway, dressing rooms for members to change into white clothing, baptistry with pool and a baptismal font resting on statues of 12 oxen, a bride’s room, a sealing area where a bride and groom kneel at an altar, initiatory area where members are prepared, endowment room and celestial room.
The temple has been designed to be a landmark. Photo / Alex Burton
“The design helps participants move seamlessly through the rooms in which sacred ordinances or ceremonies are performed. This worship is focused on strengthening faith in Jesus Christ and uniting families for eternity,” Hunter said.
Westland Construction NZ won the building contract: “We’ve invited them to refer any media questions back to the church.”
Although the temple was big, it was not designed to hold huge crowds.
“There are not large numbers of people attending conferences or other services in the temple. Rather, modest numbers of families and individuals come to the temple throughout the week from Tuesday to Saturday. Monday is a rest day for temples and Sundays are when worship services take place in our meeting houses, of which there are over 30,000 around the world. Temples are far less numerous, with only 300 in operation, under construction or announced,” Hunter said.
Last decade: Jacinda Ardern was once a Mormon but transferred her loyalty to the Labour Party. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Ex-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern left the church in her 20s, citing the incompatibility of her beliefs with the church’s intolerance for LGBTQ+ people.
Ardern explained her religious journey to the Herald in 2017: “For a lot of years, I put it to the back of my mind. I think it was too unsettling. If something like religion is part of your foundation, and then suddenly you start questioning that - it’s quite a confronting thing to deal with.
“Even before the Civil Union Bill came up, I lived in a flat with three gay friends and I was still going to church every so often and I just remember thinking ‘this is really inconsistent - I’m either doing a disservice to the church or my friends’. Because how could I subscribe to a religion that just didn’t account for them?” she asked.
The church hierarchy indicated they intend the new Manukau temple to be a landmark.
How the temple looks from the Redoubt Rd side. Photo / Alex Burton
Elder Ian S. Ardern, president of the Pacific area, said at a groundbreaking ceremony in 2020: “The temple will be a beautiful, bright light in the city of Auckland, inviting all to come unto Christ.”
In 2019, president Russell M. Nelson said the hillside site is between the stake centre and the missionary training centre. The two-story temple with a granite exterior would be prominent, Nelson said, its “light and beauty will be highly visible”.
A South Auckland site was always expected by those close to the church, due to the number of worshippers living there and having close links with the Pacific Islands, as well as a plentiful supply of flat land, more than the city’s western or northern areas.
BusinessDesk last year reported that the Mormon church had $424 million in assets, making it New Zealand’s third-wealthiest centralised religious group and 20th-richest charity.
How the new temple could look on completion.
Nelson has also announced that a temple is planned to be built in Wellington.
In 2019, the Heraldreported how the church had bought the Auckland site between two other Mormon properties. Nelson announced the deal then.
“The new temple will be built in Auckland on Redoubt Rd,” he said, referring to the hill near the church’s existing missionary training centre and its stake centre.
Four years ago, 19 Redoubt Rd was listed as being worth $27m: $14.35m in buildings and $13.3m land.
That value has since risen.
New Zealand’s only Mormon temple is in Hamilton, built in 1958 but shut for about three years, resulting in some couples going to Australia for weddings.
