Latest Church Headlines

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

People Moves: Church Mutual Names New President; UFG Appoints Stephenson as New COO

Jan 19 2023 // Church Mutual Names New PresidentChurch Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. 1, has promoted Alan S. Ogilvie to president of the company. Rich Poirier, current president and CEO, will retain his CEO responsibilities. Ogilvie...

Texas Plane Crash Kills 4 Members of Tennessee Church

Jan 19 2023 // YOAKUM, Texas (AP) – A small plane crashed Tuesday while approaching a Texas airport, killing four members of a Tennessee church and leaving the lead pastor injured, authorities and the church said.The single-engine...

Catholic Diocese Challenges Maine Law Allowing Older Sex Abuse Claims

Jan 10 2023 // PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is challenging a Maine law that eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, allowing a wave of new lawsuits.A motion in the first of the new...

People Moves: Risk Strategies Names Lamond Commercial Leader; Fred C. Church Welcomes Daley to Education Team

Jan 6 2023 // Risk Strategies Names Lamond as Commercial Lines Leader, New England RegionBoston-based Risk Strategies has appointed Doran Lamond as commercial lines leader for the New England region. In this new role, Lamond will be...

Boy Scouts, Catholic Dioceses Find Haven From Sex Abuse Suits in Bankruptcy

Jan 3 2023 // Lawmakers around the United States have tried to grant justice to victims of decades-old incidents of child sexual abuse by giving them extra time to file lawsuits. Now some of the defendants in these cases, including...

Lawsuits Alleging Maine Church Knew About Sex Abuse Now Number 14

Dec 23 2022 // Two more people have filed lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic clergy member and a nun — both deceased — raising the number to over a dozen since Maine loosened the statute of limitations last year.One...

Church Officials Clear Chicago Priest of Abuse Claim

Dec 14 2022 // CHICAGO (AP) – A prominent Roman Catholic priest known for his activism has been reinstated as leader of his Chicago parish after being cleared by church officials of allegations that he sexually abused a minor decades...

Texas Church Bus Crash Injures 16, Including 13 Children

Dec 13 2022 // HOUSTON (AP) – Sixteen people, including 13 children, were injured on Sunday after a small church bus overturned near a Houston area apartment, according to authorities.The bus, belonging to a Baptist church, rolled over...

Maine Catholic Church Hit With More Sex Abuse Claims Under Revised Law

Dec 12 2022 // Four people in Maine have filed lawsuits with claims that they were sexually abused by Catholic priests as children.Three men sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland on Thursday in Cumberland County Superior Court. The...

Carbon Monoxide Leak at Chicago Church Sends 12 to Hospitals

Dec 6 2022 // CHICAGO (AP) – Twelve people were hospitalized after a carbon monoxide leak at a church on Chicago’s South Side, fire officials said. The Chicago Fire Department said that just after 1 p.m. it was called to the New...

Rochester Diocese $55M Sex Abuse Settlement Does Not Include Insurance Amount

Nov 8 2022 // The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester will pay $55 million to survivors of sexual abuse committed by clergy members under a settlement announced by Rochester Bishop Salvatore Matano last week.The $55 million from the...

Buffalo Diocese Agrees to Clergy Oversight Plan as Part of Abuse Settlement With State

Oct 27 2022 // The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has agreed to strengthen its oversight of clergy accused of sexual misconduct to settle a lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general alleging the church mishandled abuse...

Indiana Court Sides With Catholic Diocese in Teacher Dismissal

Sep 19 2022 // The Indiana Supreme Court ruled recently that religious freedom rights protect the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis from being sued by a teacher who was fired from his job at a Catholic high school for being in a...

Indiana Court Sides With Catholic Diocese in Teacher Dismissal

Sep 6 2022 // The Indiana Supreme Court ruled last week that religious freedom rights protect the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis from being sued by a teacher who was fired from his job at a Catholic high school for being in...

Massachusetts Court Denies Charitable Immunity, Allows Abuse Case Against Diocese

Aug 1 2022 // A lawsuit brought by a former altar boy who alleges he was sexually abused as a child in the 1960s by a now-deceased Roman Catholic bishop and other clergy can proceed, the highest court in Massachusetts said in a decision...

Three Charged in Arson of Historic West Virginia Church

Jul 15 2022 // Three people have been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed a historic church in West Virginia, state police said.Braxton Allan Miller, 18, of Charleston; James Dean Elmore, 19, of Beckley; and a juvenile boy...

Officials Investigating Recent Vandalism, Fires at Maryland Churches

Jul 12 2022 // Investigations are underway into several weekend incidents of apparent arson and vandalism at churches in Maryland, authorities said.Montgomery County authorities said the incidents took place at three churches of...

Rochester Diocese, Insurers Plan for January Hearing on $147M Sexual Abuse Settlement

Jun 30 2022 // Insurers and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester have agreed on a schedule for discovery and a bankruptcy court trial regarding a proposed $147 million settlement to cover sex abuse claims against the church. The...

Fire at North Dakota Historic Church Deemed Suspicious

Jun 22 2022 // A fire last week at one of southeastern North Dakota’s oldest churches is being investigated as “suspicious,” authorities said.The blaze at Maple Sheyenne Lutheran Church near Harwood was reported about 8...

Maine Catholic Diocese Sued Under Abuse Law Change It Opposed

Jun 20 2022 // The first lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland since Maine took away a limitation on claims of child sexual abuse were filed last week.Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a law last year that allowed...