Latest Church Headlines

All the headlines from our Church Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Virginia Woman Sues State for $15M over Son’s Drowning at Park

Mar 16 2010 // A Virginia woman whose son drowned at Smith Mountain Lake State Park has filed a $15 million lawsuit against the state and several other defendants.Dora Mae Henley’s lawsuit claims the death of her 12-year-old son,...

Hiscox Releases Special Protection Insurance for Houses of Worship

Mar 12 2010 // Hiscox has launched a Houses of Worship coverage, a new offering through its Special Protection Solution program.The product addresses risks faced by religious institutions within the United States and abroad with no...

Fired Ohio Workers’ Compensation Board Employees Allege Religious Bias

Mar 5 2010 // The staff of a board created to monitor legislation affecting Ohio’s massive injured worker insurance fund after a rare coin investment scandal has been fired, plunging its oversight role into chaos.The three fired...

DNA, Hot Line Lead to Arrests in Texas Church Fires

Feb 23 2010 // Investigators say DNA evidence collected at the site of one of several Texas churches destroyed by arson links one of two suspects to the blaze, and they haven’t ruled out more charges.Jason Robert Bourque, 19, and...

ATF Blames Texas Church Fires on Serial Arsonist

Feb 11 2010 // Federal authorities believe a spate of church fires in eastern Texas is the work of a serial arsonist or group of arsonists who have evaded law enforcement for more than a month.Clay Alexander of the U.S. Bureau of...

Mississppi Judge in Scruggs’ Downfall Looks Back on Career

Jan 29 2010 // Outside Mississippi’s 3rd Judicial District, Henry Lackey is best known as the judge whose integrity and intrepidness led to the downfall of famed trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs and several colleagues.In his hometown of...

Massachusetts Court: No Workers’ Comp for Custodian’s 1999 Injury

Dec 22 2009 // A church custodian who was injured in a ladder fall, but waited nearly five years to file a workers’ comp claim is barred from collecting benefits, a Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled.The employee in this case,...

Documents Show How Ex-Cardinal Handled Conn. Sex Abuse Claims

Dec 3 2009 // Recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan expressed skepticism over sexual abuse allegations against priests when he was a Connecticut bishop a decade ago, saying he found it “marvelous” that so few...

Fire Official Urges Georgia Churches to Be on Arson Watch

Nov 20 2009 // Georgia’s top fire official is urging churches to bolster security after two metro Atlanta churches were set on fire. Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner John Oxendine said officials are investigating...

Savannah Diocese Settles Priest Sex Abuse Case for $4.2 Million

Nov 4 2009 // The Diocese of Savannah said it has reached a $4.24 million agreement through a court-ordered mediation in South Carolina with Allan Ranta who alleged he was sexually molested by former priest Wayland Y. Brown between 1978...

Cleanup Starts After Tornadoes, Storms Slam Midwest States

Aug 21 2009 // Residents began cleaning up Aug. 20 after tornadoes and severe storms slammed a large part of the Midwest, tearing the roofs from buildings and overturning vehicles.The National Weather Service in Davenport, Iowa,...

Insurer Dropped as Defendant in Wisconsin Diocese Case

Jul 20 2009 // A judge has dropped an insurance company from a lawsuit accusing the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., of covering up a priest’s sexual assaults.Milwaukee-based Indiana Insurance Co. asked to be dropped from the...

Maine’s High Court Rejects Church Officials’ Charitable Immunity Defense

Jul 9 2009 // Maine’s highest court has ruled against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland in a sex-abuse case, concluding that a charitable immunity defense cannot be raised if church officials acted intentionally.In a 5-2...

It Figures

Jun 1 2009 // $9 MillionMinimum value of settlements that the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware estimates it will have to pay to over child sexual abuse cases. The diocese says it may have to sell assets to pay them, although...

Delaware Diocese Weighs Selling Assets to Pay Abuse Settlements

May 18 2009 // The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, may have to sell assets to pay for settlements in child sexual abuse cases. Bishop Francis Malooly says settlements will probably exceed $9 million next month. But Diocesan...

Mennonites Seek Auto Insurance Law Exemption

May 18 2009 // The law requires them to buy motor vehicle insurance but their religion keeps them from using it.The small community of Mennonites that multiplied along a web of dirt roads in rural southeast Georgia has steadily grown the...

Mennonites Seek Auto Insurance Law Exemption

May 18 2009 // The small community of Mennonites that multiplied along a web of dirt roads in rural southeast Georgia has steadily grown the same way it does just about everything: Quietly.The community’s 100 or so members have...

Religious Group Seeks Exemption From Georgia Auto Insurance Law

May 11 2009 // The small community of Mennonites that multiplied along a web of dirt roads in rural southeast Georgia has steadily grown the same way it does just about everything: Quietly.The community’s 100 or so members have...

Gay Marriage Leaps ahead in Maine, New Hampshire

May 8 2009 // Jennifer Curran could only sit in the pews of her Roman Catholic church over the years and watch as bride after bride — friends, her two sisters — walked down the aisle.Now that her home state of Maine has...

Fargo, N.D., Mayor: More Levees Will Be Breached

Mar 30 2009 // By James MacPherson and Carson WalkerThe bloated Red River briefly breached a dike in Fargo, N.D. early on March 29, pouring water into a school campus and the mayor called it a “wakeup call” for a city that...