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Posted on 01/31/2009 1:54:04 PM PST by restornu
Public fears that a "gigantic temple" would block the view of one of Honduras' most famous Catholic basilicas has led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to look for a new location for the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple.
The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple was announced June 9, 2006, and ground was broken a year later at a site that is about 2,000 feet away from the Our Lady of Suyapa Basilica. The LDS Church purchased the land about 15 years ago, according to a local church leader, Luis Duarte, who was quoted in an article in the Honduran daily newspaper La Tribuna. The site is across the street from the National Autonomous University of Honduras, the largest university in Honduras.
"People saw (the temple being built so close to the basilica) as a provocation," said Bishop Darwin Rudy Andino Ramirez, auxiliary bishop of the Tegucigalpa Catholic Archdiocese, in La Tribuna, "but we have not seen it that way and are in dialogue with them because a representative from the (LDS) church headquarters in the United States of America came to Honduras to talk. But I do not know what decisions they have reached."
When final building permits were not forthcoming, the LDS Church began the process of looking for a new site for the temple. "No decision has been made yet (where the new temple site will be located), the church will make an announcement when a place is found," Duarte told La Tribuna.
The proposed temple would serve members of the LDS Church in Honduras and Nicaragua. As of December 2006, Honduras and Nicaragua had more than 175,000 members of the LDS Church and 308 congregations.
A statement was released by Nery Rodriguez, an LDS Church spokesman in Honduras, in response to several news reports about the original temple site:
In clarification to the news published today in your/their respected media under the title 'Mormons to construct gigantic church in front of Suyapa sanctuary' and out of respect for what the public opinion deserves, we ask that you please clarify the following:
1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is respectful of the laws of the country, and it has not begun construction of any of its meeting facilities without the proper building permit.
2. Since last year's project to build the temple at the site was shut down, we still do not know where and when to build. Similar temples were built in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama with no opposition.
3. The church members are respectful of the beliefs of members of other religious denominations and we hope for the same respect for ours.
4. Often we join people of different beliefs to carry out humanitarian tasks and meet the needs of people as in the case of emergencies caused by natural disasters, delivering wheelchairs, medical shifts and delivering bags of useful school supplies.
5. Those who know us, know that our mission is to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and bless the lives of people. It has never been and will not be our intention to create antagonism, rather we embrace as fellow Christians all who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God the Savior of all mankind -- in spite of doctrinal differences.
6. The meeting center that operates on the property of the Church (where the temple was planned) is used as an education center for youth and will continue to operate as such.
Given the impact that your article may have and distortion of truth that it could cause, we ask that in the future, before you publish something related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that you ask for information from us so that you can be impartial in your commentary.
CTR
I thought Albert Speer was dead.
Adam-ondi-Ahman; America always; Antonello; Arrowhead; asparagus; BlueMoose; ComeUpHigher; ...
Those weird buildings always renmind me of the Nation of Islam and their waiting for the mother ship to take them to the planet ...
Hey, that would be...
KOLOB !!!!
No surprise there!
LOL, could you have found a "more gigantic" picture to post, resty?
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