BELMONT, Mass. — For all the fur that has flown over the construction of the Boston Massachusetts Temple in the past several years, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley was unflappable and unapologetic Saturday while discussing its construction to the media.
"It's high time it was here," he said, raising his voice in enthusiasm while addressing a press conference in the cafeteria of the new temple, the 100th of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We've been here for 168 years," President Hinckley said. "It's time we had a temple in Boston, and we're so glad it's here. It's such a beautiful and magnificent building."
Yet, in his comments President Hinckley wasn't without concern for those who opposed its construction.
"Some neighbors, we regret, feel offended by what we've done here. We're sorry about that. I don't think it's going to prove an offensive thing," he said during the approximately 40-minute session.
President Hinckley went on to explain that the LDS Church was not without some experience when it comes to opposition.
"We're not unaccustomed to some opposition," he said, referring to Brigham Young, who observed that every time construction of a temple was announced that the "bells of hell would ring."
"We've heard them ring here," he mused.
"We've had experience where people who have resisted our building temples have later come to be very grateful for what we've done," he said. "I've seen that happen in other cities where those who stood in opposition to us, when the building was finished, and they went through it and saw the beauty, changed their minds entirely."
He then told of a woman who opposed construction of the Orlando Florida Temple. "She begged our pardon [after touring the building] and the next day sent a great bouquet of flowers," he said.
Conspicuously missing from this massive 69,000-square-foot edifice, set so prominently and commandingly on a hilltop, is a steeple. A ruling by a Massachusetts state court last spring prohibited the construction of a steeple with the height designed for the temple.
"It's disappointing" but not upsetting, he said concerning the lack of a traditional spire. "I would have loved to have seen this building with that steeple in all its architectural beauty," he said. "I regret that there isn't a steeple, but we can get along without it while we await the outcome of the legal action. In the meantime, we'll go forward with the ordinances of this sacred house."
Almost 83,000 people toured the temple in Belmont, a suburb west of Boston, during a monthlong open house that ended a week ago. The temple will be dedicated today in a series of four sessions beginning at 9 a.m. EDT.
While many questions from the journalists present — mostly representing Salt Lake media — centered on the steeple, President Hinckley seemed eager to speak of what had been accomplished.
"For us this is a significant occasion . . . , a banner year. This is a grand and historic occasion," he said. "It is a milestone in church history. There never has been a time [of temple construction] like it. That shows what you can get done if you set an objective and work your head off," he said.
Recounting his comments in LDS general conference in 1998 when he announced his ambitious desire to have 100 operating temples by the year 2000, he said, "I sat and wondered what I'd said. Through the efforts of many wonderful, hard-working and very diligent and faithful people, it has come to pass.
"This temple is magnificent and beautiful, and we're grateful it is standing," President Hinckley said.
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