The two-part, four-hour documentary "The Mormons" was among the most-watched programs on PBS in 2007, and there were almost as many reactions as there were viewers. Award-winning filmmaker Helen Whitney didn't take an advocacy position — she neither promoted nor railed against the LDS Church — but some viewers thought it was a whitewash and others claimed it gave the church a black eye.

The statement from the LDS Church itself took a decidedly different view: "At a time when significant media and public attention is being turned to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and when news media is so often accused of superficiality in its coverage of religion, this serious treatment of a serious subject is a welcome change."

4. Mountain Meadows

The church expressed regret for the 1857 tragedy at Mountain Meadows, in a statement read by President Eyring during a 150th anniversary memorial of the event.

Attendance at the service included descendents of the approximately 120 members of an Arkansas wagon train killed during a siege culminating on Sept. 11, 1857, in southwestern Utah.

The church's statement in part says: "We express profound regret for the massacre carried out in this valley 150 years ago today and for the undue and untold suffering experienced by the victims then and by their relatives to the present time."

5. Tabernacle retrofit

The Salt Lake Tabernacle, one of the city's most venerable landmarks, was rededicated March 31.

The 140-year-old building, which housed the church's general conferences from 1867 until the Conference Center was completed in April 2000, was closed in late 2004 for seismic retrofitting and upgrading.

Several thousand people returned to the building to witness the rededication during the Saturday afternoon session of the 177th Annual General Conference of the church. They took seats on new benches that "are as hard as the old ones," President Hinckley quipped, exhibiting his trademark sense of humor.

6. City Creek Center

Demolition and excavation work got under way in 2007 for the LDS Church's massive makeover of two downtown blocks — the future site of City Creek Center.

The 20-acre development, estimated at more than $1 billion, will bring a mix of residences, retailers and office space to downtown, complete with six acres of landscaped open space and man-made waterfalls and streams representing the historic south fork of City Creek that ran through downtown when Mormon pioneers first arrived in 1847.

No public funds or tithing money are being used for the project, being developed with funding from other real estate ventures by Property Reserve Inc., the church's real estate arm.

City Creek Center is on schedule for completion in mid-2011.

7. New apostle