Latter-day Saints break ground on Yuba City temple
Construction of the new Feather River California Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ready to begin any day now, following a groundbreaking ceremony by church leaders over the weekend.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on large gatherings, only a handful of church leaders were able to attend the event, though a video of the ceremony was made available online.
A church and facility at the site along Butte House Road was recently demolished to make way for construction to begin on
the new temple, meetinghouse and distribution center.
Before the former facility was demolished, church members worked to clear the facility of items and distributed as many as possible, working with about 15 churches and a handful of nonprofits to rehome some of the items.
“Only months ago, a stake center held its last meeting on this site and since then, the Yuba City stake members and many leaders and the groundbreaking committee have worked very hard to prepare this ground for this event today,” said Paul Watkins, a church elder who presided over last weekend’s ceremony, in a church release.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first announced the Yuba-sutter area would receive a new temple in October 2018. The new temple is expected to be 38,000 square feet and will be the eighth temple constructed in California – other locations include Fresno, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Oakland, Redlands, Sacramento and San Diego.
“In our faith, temples are the house of the lord and our holiest of buildings,” said David Kuhnen, local director of public affairs for the church.
While church meetinghouses are open to the regular public for worship services and other activities, temples are reserved for only church members to participate in sacred ceremonies.
Kuhnen said construction crews have mobilized on the site and put up fencing around the area in preparation of construction. A construction timeline is not available at this time.
To view last weekend’s groundbreaking ceremony, go to https://bit.ly/2ccv6ga.