Rome Temple

[_SuperDell]

The nice wall mural in the room in the photos, SL Tribune - I don't see any Dinosaurs painted there. WHY NOT? They are in the murals in Salt Lake and Manti Temples.

A 100 MILLION DOLLAR project? First contractors didn't work out and had to be paid off? Just how stupid are these guys? Looks as if their stupdity matches their greed.

[_oliblish]

This is just an LDS tourist trap. I have already seen ads for travel packages to the new temple on Facebook. Someone at my work is planning a trip there this summer...

[_Doctor Steuss]

I wonder if there's any story/history behind that olive tree.

[_Fence Sitter]

I wonder if there's any story/history behind that olive tree.

According to Jeffery Holland, he and an ex-biker turned bishop friend of his were on their way to visit the 511th new stake created this year when they took a wrong turn down a street and ended up at a nursery that sold them the tree.

[_Doctor Steuss]

I wonder if there's any story/history behind that olive tree.

According to Jeffery Holland, he and an ex-biker turned bishop friend of his were on their way to visit the 511th new stake created this year when they took a wrong turn down a street and ended up at a nursery that sold them the tree.

And, just like that, at 6:51am, my internet cup overfloweth.

[_Kishkumen]

So many of these remind me of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

This one is no exception.

[_Dr Exiled]

They do a good job with real estate development. It's still not worth the cost of annual tithing, but they deserve credit for making a nice building and grounds.

[_I have a question]

They do a good job with real estate development. It's still not worth the cost of annual tithing, but they deserve credit for making a nice building and grounds.

That depends on what you mean by a "good job". A white elephant is still a white elephant no matter how pretty it is. If the measurement is ROI, and we pretend the money they're spending is of consequence to them (rather than the frivolous expenditure of donations from people told to forego paying bills and buying food in order to make them) then Temples are a complete fail. The problem is, there is no cost to the Church for the money it uses, so they get away with wasting it. "Hey, we've got $32 billion in stocks so of what consequence is $150,000,000 photo op tourist attraction in Rome...We can lose it in the end of year roundings."

You see something that looks nice - I see a monumental waste of charitable donations.

Homelessness growing across Italy
Poverty has grown across Europe, and is more severe in southern regions. At the beginning of this year, homelessness across Italy was estimated at 48,000, while the number of homeless people in Italy may have tripled since the economic crisis began. Angelo Van Schaik reports from a homeless shelter in Rome, historically frequented by immigrants - where organizers are seeing ever more Italians.

https://www.my wife.com/en/homelessness-grow ... v-18013566

ROME, ITALY — President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presented a $3 million donation to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) on behalf of the church during a recent visit to Rome, Italy.

Uchtdorf met with Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the WFP, on July 17. The donation will be used to provide food to refugees and displaced people in Cameroon.

“With 65 million refugees worldwide, the church is committed to alleviating suffering in all its forms, including hunger,” according to a news release from the church.

"I presented a check to the World Food Programme on behalf of [members of the Church],” Uchtdorf said in the release. “The generous offerings of our worldwide membership make such a donation possible. Their commitment, their collective resolve to do something, and not just say something, will ultimately make a difference in the lives of God's children."

In a Facebook post, Uchtdorf said making the donation reminded him of problems he faced in his youth.

“As a child, I came to Germany as a refugee,” he said in the post. “I was four years old and it was in the middle of a world war. We had nothing. We had to rely on the help of others.”

https://www.standard.net/lifestyle/fait ... aa952.html

Rome.
$3 million for a world food programme.
$150 million for a pretty building that will hardly get used, and into which the poor and the needy, the immigrants and the homeless will not be admitted unless they join the Church and pay ten percent of all their income to the Church.

Good job? I don't think so.

[_SteelHead]

Ihaq wins the interwebs today.

Tmeple work is a huge diversion of human capital, and money into something that benefits no one. Think of what the world would be if all of the hours wasted at temples every day went into building housing for the poor and the tithing went to providing job training.

We humans are a fatally wasteful lot.

[_Dr Exiled]

They do a good job with real estate development. It's still not worth the cost of annual tithing, but they deserve credit for making a nice building and grounds.

That depends on what you mean by a "good job". A white elephant is still a white elephant no matter how pretty it is. If the measurement is ROI, and we pretend the money they're spending is of consequence to them (rather than the frivolous expenditure of donations from people told to forego paying bills and buying food in order to make them) then Temples are a complete fail. The problem is, there is no cost to the Church for the money it uses, so they get away with wasting it. "Hey, we've got $32 billion in stocks so of what consequence is $150,000,000 photo op tourist attraction in Rome...We can lose it in the end of year roundings."

You see something that looks nice - I see a monumental waste of charitable donations.

Homelessness growing across Italy
Poverty has grown across Europe, and is more severe in southern regions. At the beginning of this year, homelessness across Italy was estimated at 48,000, while the number of homeless people in Italy may have tripled since the economic crisis began. Angelo Van Schaik reports from a homeless shelter in Rome, historically frequented by immigrants - where organizers are seeing ever more Italians.

https://www.my wife.com/en/homelessness-growing-across-italy/av-18013566

ROME, ITALY — President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presented a $3 million donation to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) on behalf of the church during a recent visit to Rome, Italy.

Uchtdorf met with Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the WFP, on July 17. The donation will be used to provide food to refugees and displaced people in Cameroon.

“With 65 million refugees worldwide, the church is committed to alleviating suffering in all its forms, including hunger,” according to a news release from the church.

"I presented a check to the World Food Programme on behalf of [members of the Church],” Uchtdorf said in the release. “The generous offerings of our worldwide membership make such a donation possible. Their commitment, their collective resolve to do something, and not just say something, will ultimately make a difference in the lives of God's children."

In a Facebook post, Uchtdorf said making the donation reminded him of problems he faced in his youth.

“As a child, I came to Germany as a refugee,” he said in the post. “I was four years old and it was in the middle of a world war. We had nothing. We had to rely on the help of others.”

https://www.standard.net/lifestyle/fait ... aa952.html

Rome.
$3 million for a world food programme.
$150 million for a pretty building that will hardly get used, and into which the poor and the needy, the immigrants and the homeless will not be admitted unless they join the Church and pay ten percent of all their income to the Church.

Good job? I don't think so.

Sure, it is a waste of money, just like all the buildings in the Vatican were a waste of money when they were built. The church builds these temples to show their dupes that their tithing is being used "wisely." It isn't as you say and should be spent elsewhere like you point out. However, the pictures from the Trib show a nice building.