Latest Church Headlines
All the headlines from our Church Topic Page, ordered by recency.
4 Dead After Storms Leave ‘Trail of Destruction’ Across the South
Dec 19 2019 // A swarm of tornadoes and storms that left a trail of destruction across the Southeast killed four people, injured at least a dozen more and left victims to bundle up against the cold as they picked up pieces of their homes...
4 Dead, Including 1 in Louisiana, as Twisters, Storms Batter the South
Dec 18 2019 // A swarm of tornadoes and storms that left a trail of destruction across the Southeast killed four people, injured a dozen more and left victims to bundle up against the cold as they picked up pieces of their homes...
Catholic Church Abuse Allegations Being Raised in Japan
Dec 16 2019 // During Pope Francis’ recent visit to Japan, Harumi Suzuki stood where his motorcade passed by holding a sign that read: “I am a survivor.” Katsumi Takenaka stood at another spot, on another day, holding...
Under New State Laws, Catholic Church Could See New Wave of Abuse Suits
Dec 4 2019 // A wave of new laws in 15 states that allow people to make claims of sexual abuse going back decades could bring a deluge of lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church that could surpass anything seen so far in its clergy...
West Virginia Diocese Seeks $792K from Disgraced Bishop
Dec 3 2019 // West Virginia’s Roman Catholic diocese said last week that it wants a former bishop to pay it more than three-quarters of a million dollars after a series of alleged sexual and financial scandals. Diocese of...
Sexual Abuse Victims Claim Catholic Church Pressured Them Into Unfair Settlements
Nov 25 2019 // Two impoverished Mississippi men who say they were sexually assaulted by Franciscan missionaries filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming that Catholic officials pressured them into signing settlements that paid them...
West Virginia Judge Asks State Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Church Abuse Case
Nov 18 2019 // A West Virginia judge is looking to the state Supreme Court for guidance after dismissing a case that alleges a Catholic diocese and its former bishop knowingly employed pedophiles. Wood County Circuit Court Judge J.D....
Ohio’s Suracy Insurance Launches Suracy Faith with Focus on Religious Organizations
Nov 4 2019 // Solon, Ohio-based Suracy Insurance Agency Inc. (formerly AmVenture Insurance Agency Inc.) has launched a sub-brand, Suracy Faith. Suracy Faith focuses on providing insurance solutions for churches and other religious...
Feds Say Retailer Broke Law by Selling Rifle Used in Texas Church Attack
Oct 18 2019 // Federal prosecutors say a sporting goods retailer violated the law by selling an AR-15-style rifle and large capacity magazine to a man who used them to kill more than two dozen worshippers at a Texas church. The...
Ex-Church Administrator in Pennsylvania Pleads Guilty in $1.2M Theft
Oct 18 2019 // A former western Pennsylvania church administrator has pleaded guilty to stealing $1.2 million that prosecutors say he and his wife used to pay for vacations, sports tickets and other personal expenses. Fifty-year-old...
Federal Officials Investigate 6th Church Fire in Tennessee
Oct 11 2019 // Federal authorities are investigating a fire that was intentionally set at a vacant church in Memphis, Tennessee. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Michael Knight says the blaze at First Church...
18-Karat Gold Toilet Stolen From Winston Churchill’s Birthplace
Sep 17 2019 // Burglars overnight broke into England’s Blenheim Palace [on Saturday, Sept. 14], the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and stole an 18-karat gold toilet on display as part of an art exhibition. The thieves took the...
How Southeast Volunteers Prep for Disasters
Sep 3 2019 // Industrial-sized circular fans pushed humid air down the warehouse alleys, lightening the mid-90s afternoon temperatures for the workers. The group removed lids from plastic buckets, organized cleaning supplies and...
Government Fails to Block Liability Lawsuit Over Failed Background Check on Shooter
Sep 3 2019 // A lawsuit over a faulty background check that allowed a South Carolina man to buy the gun he used to kill nine people in a racist attack at a Charleston church was reinstated Friday by a federal appeals court. A...
Iowa’s GuideOne Teams Up with Strategos International on Armed Intruder Training
Aug 27 2019 // West Des Moines, Iowa-based GuideOne Insurance has formed an alliance with Strategos International, a Kansas City-based organization that will bring training and consulting to its customers in all niches – churches,...
Clergy Members Named in Alaska Sexual Misconduct Review
Aug 26 2019 // An independent review has found credible accusations of past sexual misconduct against seven clergy members of an Alaska Catholic diocese, including a former priest who died in a July plane crash and another priest who was...
Over 400 Sex Abuse Suits Filed in New York as Litigation Window Opens
Aug 16 2019 // The Roman Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, schools and hospitals, the late financier Jeffrey Epstein are some of the targets named in a flurry of sex abuse lawsuits filed Wednesday in New York as the state began accepting...
State Clergy Abuse Hotline in Pennsylvania Fielded 1,900 Calls in First Year
Aug 13 2019 // Investigators are working their way through accusations from 1,862 calls made to a clergy abuse hotline in the 12 months since a landmark grand jury report exposed decades of child abuse within Pennsylvania’s Roman...
Rhode Island AG Gains Access to Nearly 70 Years of Records from Diocese of Providence
Jul 29 2019 // As part of an ongoing review of allegations of clergy child sexual abuse within the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bishop...
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Sues Insurers Over Future Abuse Claims
Jul 8 2019 // The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has sued more than two dozen insurance companies, seeking to compel them to cover claims filed by people who say they were abused by clerics. Church officials anticipate that...
