Latest Church Headlines
All the headlines from our Church Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Ohio Workers’ Comp Bureau Worker Caught in Time Theft Probe
Jan 28 2009 // A state agency is reviewing the way it tracks how employees use the Internet after a report concluded that a worker remained undetected for years as he alternately viewed pornographic Web sites and did work for his...
Cincinnati Archdiocese Says Clergy Abuse Cost $11 Million
Jan 23 2009 // A clergy abuse scandal has cost the Archdiocese of Cincinnati more than $11 million in the past six years, church officials announced. In 2008, the archdiocese spent nearly $1.2 million on costs related to clergy abuse, or...
Priests Accused of Sex Abuse in Alaska
Jan 16 2009 // The Jesuit order has been sued by 43 Alaska Natives who say they were sexually abused as children, and mounting evidence shows that known pedophile priests were sent to the Fairbanks, Alaska, Diocese for decades, a lawyer...
Sex Abuse Lawsuit Alleges Racketeering by Diocese in Connecticut
Jan 5 2009 // A Connecticut woman has filed a racketeering lawsuit accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich of conspiring to cover up sexual abuse of children by priests. The woman is known only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit pending...
Vermont Jury Awards $3.6M to Victim in Priest Sex Abuse Case
Dec 19 2008 // A Vermont jury has awarded a former altar boy nearly $3.6 million because the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington didn’t protect him from an abusive priest in the 1970s. The Chittenden County Superior Court jury...
South Carolina Arson Hotline Tip Solves Arson Case
Dec 17 2008 // A tip to the South Carolina Arson Hotline helped solve a Greenwood home arson case and led to a reward for the tipster, according to officials. Lt. Bobby Shealy of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said the fire...
Massachusetts Diocese Pays $4.5M for Abuse Claims
Dec 4 2008 // A Catholic diocese in Massachusetts has paid $4.5 million to nearly 60 people who say they were sexually abused by priests as far back as 1948. The agreements announced Tuesday were part of a voluntary arbitration process...
Georgia Offers Reward for Leads in Church Arson
Nov 26 2008 // The state of Georgia is offering a $10,000 reward for information that will lead to an arrest and conviction in an arson case in Clarkston where a baptist church was heavily damaged last Sunday night. The blaze gutted the...
Court Lets Kentucky Sex Abuse Case Against Vatican Proceed
Nov 26 2008 // A lawsuit against the Vatican alleging top church officials should have warned the public or authorities of known or suspected sexual abuse of children by priests here can go ahead, a federal appeals court in Kentucky...
Illinois Presbyterian Minister Settles Sex Abuse Case for $150,000
Nov 17 2008 // A Presbyterian minister accused of having sex with a woman when she was a teenager kept working as a pastor and college administrator after the church’s insurance company paid the accuser $150,000. Rev. Ronald...
Maine Court Asked to Nix Church Immunity in Abuse Case
Sep 18 2008 // Maine’s supreme court is being asked to overturn the concept of charitable immunity in a church abuse lawsuit. A lawyer told the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that the Roman Catholic bishop knew the Rev. Raymond...
Jury Awards $5 Million to Victim in Sex Abuse Case in Southern Illinois
Aug 28 2008 // A jury awarded $5 million to James Wisniewski, a former altar boy on Wednesday, August 27, in a widely watched sexual abuse trial. Rev. Raymond Kownacki was convicted of sexually abusing Wisniewski and other youths and top...
Figures
Aug 21 2008 // $8.5 Million Amount of settlement reached with five insurers for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Mass. to pay claims filed by people who were sexually abused by priests. About $3.5 million will be used to pay...
Texas High Court Throws Out Jury Award for Girls’ Exorcism Injuries
Jul 3 2008 // The Texas Supreme Court threw out a jury award for injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious...
Vermont Diocese with $8.7M Abuse Verdict Can’t Find Insurance Policy
Jun 23 2008 // Many Roman Catholics believe that the worst of the clergy sex abuse scandal is over. But in the Diocese of Burlington, it’s deepening. The case of one cleric, assigned to Vermont parishes in the 1970s despite...
Fire Does $1M Damage to Pennsylvania Church
Jun 17 2008 // Fire officials in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania say a blaze did an estimated $1 million damage to a church in Caernarvon Township early Sunday. Flames were shooting from the roof of the south wing of Conestoga Mennonite...
Civic Clubs Added to West Virginia Church Abuse Lawsuit
May 27 2008 // A West Virginia teenager suing a Roman Catholic Diocese claiming he was sexually abused has added a service organization to his lawsuit, his lawyer says. The Clarksburg teen, who was not identified in court papers, is...
Vermont Diocese to Appeal $8.7 Million Sex Abuse Verdict
May 22 2008 // Vermont’s top Roman Catholic clergyman has written to parishioners around the state, apologizing to the victim in a priest sex abuse case but saying the church will appeal last week’s $8.7 million verdict...
After Verdict in Abuse Case, Vermont Judge Puts Lien on Church
May 20 2008 // A judge has agreed to put a lien of more than $10 million on property including the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, to secure damages won by the plaintiff in a suit alleging sexual abuse...
Vermont Jury Awards Ex-Altar Boy $8.7M in Priest Abuse Case
May 15 2008 // A jury in Vermont has awarded $8.7 million in damages to a former altar boy who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington over sexual abuse he says he suffered at the hands of a priest. The man, now a 40-year-old...
