Site preparation will begin shortly for a...

Site preparation will begin shortly for a Mormon temple in San Diego, the third in California for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Groundbreaking ceremonies attended by church President Ezra Taft Benson were held recently at the eight-acre site east of Interstate 5 near La Jolla.

Construction on the four-level, white marble temple will start in the summer and is expected to be completed in two years. The estimated cost was not released.

Besides serving Mormons in San Diego County, the temple also will be used by Mormons in Tijuana and Mexicali, Imperial County and southern Orange County.

The temples, often imposing structures set in prominent locations, are used for rites to baptize by proxy the ancestors of members and to seal marriages for eternity, among other private ceremonies. Worship services are held in church buildings.

The 6.5-million-member faith currently has 41 temples worldwide, including the Los Angeles temple, dedicated in 1956, and the Oakland temple, dedicated in 1964.

The $15.1-million Las Vegas temple recently reached the halfway point in construction. The six-spired structure sits on an eight-acre site just east of the gambling resort. It will serve about 50,000 Mormons in southern Nevada and in Blythe, Calif., and Kingman, Ariz.

Church officials hope to hold the traditional open house and dedication ceremony in early spring next year, according to the Beehive Sentinel, a privately owned Mormon newspaper.

DATES

More than 17,000 persons were expected to attend the annual four-day Religious Education Congress organized by the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese. It ends Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center. In addition to numerous workshops and lectures, noted New Testament scholar Father Raymond Brown of New York will discuss the challenge of biblical fundamentalism to Catholics in an 8:30 a.m. lecture today. Archbishop Roger Mahony will celebrate the closing liturgy at 5:15 p.m. Sunday.

STATEMENT

The 9.1-million-member United Methodist Church, the second largest U.S. Protestant church, is well into debates and position-taking over issues scheduled for its quadrennial General Conference April 26 to May 6 in St. Louis. The lastest salvo is a statement being circulated nationally by four Southern California clergymen in reaction to a conservative declaration late last year by 48 clergy opposing ordination or appointment of practicing homosexuals and affirming the “primacy of Scripture” and the traditional “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” language for the Trinity.

“They do not speak for us. . . . We pray they do not speak for the General Conference,” says the statement initiated by Pastors William M. Boggs of Los Angeles, Ignacio Castuera of Hollywood and Mark Trotter of San Diego and the Rev. Roland Brammeier, superintendent of the Los Angeles District. They contended that the church’s present doctrinal formulation “gives Scripture a primary role while acknowledging the dynamic interplay of tradition, reason and experience. We see no compelling reasons for change.” On the traditionally masculine words referring to members of the Trinity, the Los Angeles statement said the church should leave “room for contemporary expressions to describe our experience of God.”