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Stake Conference and the Sung Eucharist in London

Stake Conference and the Sung Eucharist in London

Last updated on: May 18, 2026 at 3:45 pm by Dan Peterson

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Stake Conference and the Sung Eucharist in London 2026-05-18T15:45:33-06:00 Dan Peterson

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An iconic image of St. Paul’s Cathedral on 29 December 1940, during the “Blitz.” (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

A new article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine today: ““Crawling Over, Under, or Around Section 132”: The Debate Over Joseph Smith and Polygamy” And Episode 17 of our Becoming Brigham series went up this morning: “Was Zion’s Camp Formative or a Failure?”

I would be pleased and honored if you would take a look at them.

And here are a pair of items from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that you should see:

The Hyde Park Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London (Wikimedia Commons public domain image).

On Sunday, many of the members of our tour group attended stake conference at the Hyde Park Chapel, on Exhibition Road, which is located very near to the Royal Albert Hall, the Albert Memorial, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, While there, they heard the announcement that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has purchased space not terribly far away for a young-adult meetinghouse. I may or may not have the details right — I wasn’t there — but I believe that it will be located within an existing building in the vicinity of Aldersgate Street, near the Barbican tube station, and that it may be opened as early as this fall. It seems that Hyde Park Chapel has grown too crowded. Great news!

Aerial view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, in London, by Mark Frosh (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

The remainder of us elected not to attend stake conference — I reasoned that we wouldn’t be able to take the sacrament in any event — but, instead, to go to a “Sung Eucharist” for “The Seventh Sunday of Easter” at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was very interesting and, of course, the interior of St. Paul’s is magnificent. (As the Latin epitaph of the Cathedral’s architect, Sir Christopher Wren, puts it — his tomb is in the Cathedral’s crypt — Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice [“Reader, if you seek his memorial, look around you”]). Still, my “liturgical” tastes are clearly “low-church.” As on previous occasions, I did not find my experiences with Evensong and the Sung Eucharist on this trip spiritually or emotionally moving but, instead, rather cerebral. (C. S. Lewis seems to have felt at least roughly the same way, although he faithfully attended his local Anglican parish church at Headington Quarry, Oxford.) I know, though, that some find them powerfully appealing, and that’s fine. De gustibus non est disputandum.

My account of our activities on Sunday will continue tomorrow. Probably.

Trafalgar Square, in London (technically, in Westminster), with the National Gallery in the background and the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields on the right. Nelson’s Column is out of the frame. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

We began this morning, the last day of our tour, by walking through Trafalgar Square and then past a practice field where a very large military marching band in resplendent uniforms was rehearsing for the forthcoming King’s Birthday Parade, commonly called “Trooping the Colour.”

Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of all Catholics in England and Wales and the seat of the Archbishop of London (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

From there, we walked over to Buckingham Palace,where we observed the Changing of the Guard. Thereafter, we made our way to Westminster Cathedral, which I had driven by on numerous prior visits but had never actually previously visited. We were taken through the building by a very knowledgeable Catholic guide. The interior is quite beautiful. I admit to being slightly puzzled by the choice of a neo-Byzantine style for the building, given that the Cathedral is Roman Catholic rather than Eastern Orthodox, but I’m confident that part of the motive for the decision was the desire to avoid any seeming competition with the English Gothic Westminster Abbey, which is now in Anglican hands, and Sir Christopher Wren’s Anglican-built Baroque masterpiece of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

After our visit to Westminster Cathedral and a short break for lunch — in the spirit of full disclosure, I confess that, once again, I ate something — we continued our walk and returned to Westminster Abbey, where our own Peter Fagg led us on a tour of that glorious building, so inexhaustibly rich in history. I’ve never tired of it.

A view of the Provo Missionary Training Center, adjacent to the Provo campus of Brigham Young University

This story will elicit weeping, wailing, and the gnashing of teeth in certain sectors of the internet — where it doesn’t provoke angry denials and attempted rebuttals: “Church records historic increase in convert baptisms for 2025: The last time the Church experienced such growth was in 1990”

In a related area, though, there is this: “New video takes viewers inside a Latter-day Saint missionary training center: Church of Jesus Christ experiences record conversions as young missionaries display ‘deep devotion to the Savior,’ apostle says” If you’ve ever wondered what the MTC experience is like, or if puzzled non-member neighbors or co-workers or kinsfolk have been curious about where your missionary son or daughter or grandchild is headed, this might be a very good little video to share with them. It’s slightly more than twenty-one minutes long.

I was pleased to see news of this announcement and absolutely delighted at the reaction to it of the (largely indigenous) congregation as captured in both the still photographs and the brief video: “Temple Announced in Otavalo, Ecuador: This will be the country’s third temple.”

Would you like to participate in the work more than you’re doing now or, anyway, in a different fashion? Consider this: “Joyful, welcoming, motivated volunteers needed ahead of Salt Lake Temple Celebration”

Various missionary training centers have been established around the world. One of them stands directly adjacent to the Latter-day Saint temple near Preston, England. (LDS.org)

Finally, I offer another item that I’ve drawn from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™: “Church’s 100th America250 Food Donation Delivered in Dallas: “Serving together binds us together as communities, as a nation and as God’s children,” Church leader says”

Posted from London, England

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May 19, 2026 Raising the Rafters at Westminster Abbey

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