My church – the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – is behind the new Modesto Temple giving rare public tours this week and next of the grand new house of worship in northwest Modesto.
You might have seen its 115-foot spire rising above the marble-faced, 31,352-square-foot building under construction at 4310 Dale Road over the past three years.
Having accompanied several nonmembers on free public tours the past few days – as a friend, not a presenter – I have a sense for what curious people want to know as they move from room to room.
Here are the most common questions I’ve heard, and my best attempt at concise, unofficial answers.
Keep in mind that I don’t speak for the church. I’m just a guy who, like Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen – and 37,000 others in the region, from Lodi to Merced – belongs to this faith (many call us Mormons because we believe in the Book of Mormon along with the Bible).
Why do public tours now?
After three years of construction, the temple is finally ready. But after it’s formally dedicated in November, only members in good standing go in. So open house tours through Halloween represent a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see what’s inside.
Why don’t we see huge halls inside, like other churches?
Our chapels, or regular meeting houses (like the 1970s-era one my family attends a stone’s throw west of the new temple) has a huge meeting room for big assemblies. Routine church stuff happens in regular chapels, while temples are reserved for special rites we call ordinances.
Ordinances?
Yes, promises with God. Weddings might be the happiest. Also sealing families, or joining them for eternity, we believe. We also do proxy baptisms and other ordinances on behalf of our ancestors. We believe their spirits live on after death, and they get the choice to accept these rites, or not.
Where do Modesto-area Mormons go now for temple stuff?
Usually, Oakland, a temple dedicated in 1964. The Modesto Temple is the fourth in the Central Valley, behind Sacramento, Fresno and Yuba City. And the Modesto Temple is the church’s 230th (385, if you count others under construction), compared to thousands of regular meeting houses throughout the world. So it will be great to have a temple down the road rather than traveling to attend one.
I see lots of almond blossoms in carpeting and stained glass.
Design architects like to localize temples. Before construction, they toured the area and decided to work almond blossoms, strawberries, irrigation canals and other agricultural touchpoints into this temple’s motif. They were impressed with the then-newly renovated train depot downtown, so you’ll see parallel lines reminiscent of train tracks throughout the temple as well. It’s subtle, but some of the flowing granite outside evokes the Sierra range to our east.
Who paid for this temple, and how much?
The church doesn’t divulge costs. Back in the day local members shouldered much of the cost for new facilities, but these days, it’s a decision from church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Active members everywhere contribute tithing.
So far, this column feels pretty sterile, mostly covering nuts and bolts. Many people are just curious about the building, and that’s fine.
Others seek a spiritual component, which is harder to capture in a news column.
Many visitors offer comments on the peace and calm they feel in the temple, especially in what’s called the celestial room, a place representing heaven – even on public tours.
Attending a media tour last week as a journalist (see Facebook or Instagram reels I produced for The Modesto Focus), I was impressed with the words of Riverbank’s Jennifer Miyakawa, a Sylvan school board trustee, member of the Stanislaus County Interfaith Council, fellow church member and friend. Here’s how she put it to reporters:
“When you see life through the longer lens of eternity, suddenly the heavy stuff you carry seems smaller and a little less consuming. Perspective shifts when you recognize that God is in the broad strokes and the minutiae of life, and the peace that brings is palpable.
“The world we live in can be a loud and chaotic place, and often outright mean. Sometimes it’s hard to find common ground, even in cubicles and the queues we share with others. The temple, in contrast, is a place where heaven and earth symbolically meet, where the beauty of this space and the spiritual work that we perform inside elevates us and reminds us who we are, and where hopefully a little bit of heaven brushes off on us, so that we see the world and each other through more compassionate eyes.”
Free public tours of the Modesto Temple, 4310 Dale Road, are conducted excluding Sunday, Oct. 25, through Saturday, Oct. 31.
Weekdays – 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturdays – 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
More information: modestocaliforniatemple.org.
Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact him at garth@themodestofocus.org.