Latest Church Headlines
All the headlines from our Church Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hughes Named Chief Marketing Officer at Church Mutual Insurance
Jun 29 2015 // Church Mutual Insurance Co., based in Merrill, Wis., announced Laura J. Hughes will join the company as chief marketing officer effective July 6, 2015, and report directly to CEO Michael Ravn. Laura Hughes With more than...
North Carolina Investigators Say Church Fire Was Arson, $250K in Damage
Jun 26 2015 // Investigators with the Charlotte, N.C., Fire Department say a fire at a predominantly black church is a case of arson. A statement from the fire department said it took about an hour to get June 24 fire at Briar Creek Road...
Does This Sound Like YOUR Underwriter?
Jun 10 2015 // Two weeks ago we posted an article titled, “Are You One of THOSE Agents?” The article centered around some of the strange questions, comments or requests underwriters have received from their agents. Near the...
5 Dead After Twisters Hit Texas, Arkansas
May 12 2015 // Emergency responders on May 11 searched through wreckage in parts of the states of Texas and Arkansas after a line of tornadoes battered several small communities, killing at least five people, including a young couple...
Former California Agent Charged with Scamming Elderly Church Members
Apr 20 2015 // Constance Gail Fortune, 61, was arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court in California in April and charged with three felony counts of grand theft and one felony count of financial elder abuse for allegedly scamming...
Former California Agent Charged With Scamming Elderly Church Members
Apr 13 2015 // Constance Gail Fortune, 61, was arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court in California and charged with three felony counts of grand theft and one felony count of financial elder abuse for allegedly scamming seniors, many...
Florida Van Crash Revives Concern About Safety of Vehicles
Apr 7 2015 // Federal transportation officials are investigating a crash that killed eight members of a Florida church who were riding in a type of van that has raised safety alarms for many years. It’s unknown what caused the...
A.M. Best Revises Outlook for Southern Mutual Church Insurance Co.
Apr 1 2015 // A.M. Best has revised the outlook to stable from negative for the financial strength rating (FSR) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of Southern Mutual Church Insurance Co. (SMCIC) of Columbia, S.C., while affirming the...
Kentucky Bill Would Exempt Unpaid Pastors from Workers’ Comp Insurance
Feb 25 2015 // Kentucky House lawmakers have advanced a bill that would exempt some pastors from paying workers’ compensation insurance. Kentucky has hundreds of churches with tiny congregations whose pastors work for free. The...
Washington Church, Law Firm Settle Legal Malpractice Claim
Jan 26 2015 // The Catholic Diocese of Spokane has settled a malpractice case it filed against the law firm that handled its bankruptcy over priest sex abuse claims. The church and the Paine Hamblen law firm settled Friday, but the terms...
Minnesota Diocese Files Chapter 11 over Sexual-Abuse Claims
Jan 20 2015 // The Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis is the 12th U.S. diocese to seek bankruptcy protection to deal with sexual-abuse claims. The Chapter 11 filing on Jan. 16 in St. Paul follows legislation passed by Minnesota...
Judge Approves Montana Diocese $16.4M Sex Abuse Settlement
Jan 16 2015 // A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a reorganization plan for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena in Montana that includes a $16.4 million settlement for hundreds of people who sued over clergy sex abuse from the...
LevelFirst, Church Mutual Partner on Coverage for Religious Marketplace
Jan 16 2015 // Dallas-based wholesale insurance broker LevelFirst LLC has entered into an agreement with Church Mutual Insurance Co. to provide members of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas with exclusive access to market-leading...
Fred C. Church Insurance Announces New Leadership in Massachusetts
Dec 30 2014 // Chris Duble Fred C. Church Insurance, an independent insurance agency in Lowell, Massachusetts, has appointed Mike Reilly as president and Chris Duble as chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1. Both Reilly and Duble...
Attorney Wants Records From Franciscan Friars in News Mexico Abuse Case
Dec 3 2014 // An attorney for victims who claim they were sexually abused by priests in the Diocese of Gallup in New Mexico wants insurance and financial records from the Franciscan Friars, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Claimants...
Plan to Settle Abuse Claims Offered By Montana Catholic Diocese
Nov 20 2014 // The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena has filed a bankruptcy reorganization plan that proposes a $16.4 million settlement for hundreds of people who said clergy members sexually abused them for decades while the church...
More Snow Threatening for Western New York as Flooding Risk
Nov 20 2014 // Lake-effect snow that killed six people and halted travel across western New York may reach as high as 7 feet in some areas before stopping tomorrow, when temperatures will start to rise along with the risk of flooding. At...
Utah Woman Wears Colander For Driver’s License Photo
Nov 19 2014 // A Utah woman says she encountered only brief resistance when she recently had her driver’s license photo taken while wearing a colander on her head as a religious statement. Asia Lemmon, whose legal name appears on...
Washington City Takes Stock Of Damage Following Tornado
Oct 27 2014 // The southwest Washington city of Longview tallied the damage Friday from a rare tornado that tore off roofs, broke windows and uprooted trees, leaving residents and officials in disbelief. No one was injured in the...
New Jersey Diocese Settles Priest Sex Abuse Suit for $610K
Oct 7 2014 // The Trenton Diocese has paid $610,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a New Jersey man who said he was sexually abused for years as a teen by a priest who headed the diocese’s youth group. Forty-two-year-old Chris...
