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Farmington, Conn. • The first Mormon temple in Connecticut opens to the public this week and soon will host services for thousands of the faithful from a four-state area.
The new temple in Farmington reflects growing membership for the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the East Coast. Another recently constructed Mormon temple was dedicated in Philadelphia on Sept. 18.
"Out here on the East Coast, it is a unique challenge to be a member of the church because we are so few and far between. This Hartford temple is going to be a huge beacon of hope and pillar of faith," said Randy LaRose, a member who moved from Utah to Connecticut to serve as a chaplain at Yale University.
An estimated 27,000 congregants from Connecticut, Rhode Island, western Massachusetts and eastern New York are to be served by the temple in Farmington, a Hartford suburb that also was the birthplace of the church's fourth president, Wilford Woodruff.
The 32,000-square-foot structure is steeped in the history of Mormonism and the local area, with paintings depicting Connecticut landscapes, mahogany wood surfaces and an acorn and leaf motif repeated throughout the building.
The temple opens Friday for public tours that will be offered until Oct. 22. The temple is scheduled for dedication Nov. 20, after which only Latter-day Saints in good standing will be welcomed.
In Mormonism, temples are dedicated to the religion's highest forms of worship and are less common than meetinghouses, where weekly church services are offered. The Hartford temple has eight rooms related to special ceremonies known as ordinances, including a baptismal room, a sealing room where marriages are performed and the celestial room, a space for contemplation that features a large crystal chandelier and symbolizes life with God.
"In a temple, the focus is on individual worship, not group worship," explained Larry Wilson, an LDS general authority and executive director of the faith's Temple Department. "That's why there are many smaller rooms rather than one large hall."
Drucila Maldonado, a Mormon who lives in Bridgeport, said the new temple will increase the LDS presence in the area. She has been commuting to the Boston temple every Saturday.
"Now I'm very excited that there is a temple right here. It's so much closer for me and my three children, compared to the 2½-hour drive to Boston."