Latest Church Headlines
All the headlines from our Church Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Carolina Diocese Faces 2 Suits Over Alleged Priest Abuse
Apr 17 2020 // Two lawsuits have been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte claiming two boys were sexually abused in separate instances by the two priests they sought out for help with personal problems decades ago. One of the...
Wisconsin’s Church Mutual Promotes 6 in Leadership Positions
Apr 16 2020 // Church Mutual Insurance Co. S.I., based in Merrill, Wisconsin, has promoted six individuals into new leadership roles. Jeff Steffen has been promoted to senior vice president – chief financial officer. Steffen has a...
Coronavirus Impact on Workers’ Compensation Limited But Some Workers May Be Covered
Mar 23 2020 // The outbreak of coronavirus has already resulted in some workers’ compensation claims and more are expected. But whether those claims are going to succeed depends on the individual circumstances and the state where...
Difficult Choices Ahead for Historic Buildings in Tennessee Ravaged by Tornadoes
Mar 17 2020 // Property owners affected by the tornadoes earlier this month now face two options: rebuild or bulldoze. The storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses throughout Middle Tennessee. And historic buildings...
Virus Impact on Workers’ Compensation Limited But Some Workers May Be Covered
Mar 17 2020 // The outbreak of coronavirus has already resulted in some workers’ compensation claims and more are expected. But whether those claims are going to succeed depends on the individual circumstances and the state where...
Washington Providing Workers’ Comp to Quarantined Health Providers
Mar 13 2020 // The state of Washington has made the decision to provide workers’ compensation benefits to healthcare workers and first responders who are quarantined after being exposed to COVID-19 while on the job. Gov. Jay Inslee...
Judge OKs $34M Settlement with Minnesota’s New Ulm Diocese in Sex Abuse Case
Mar 12 2020 // A bankruptcy judge has approved a $34 million settlement between the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota and nearly 100 people who say they were sexually abused by priests and others. Bishop John LeVoir apologized to sexual...
Logic & Language, Forms & Facts: The Case of the ‘Holey’ Insurance
Mar 9 2020 // For a number of years, I’ve done a workshop called “The Adventures of Ace Insura, Claims Detective.” Participants assist Ace in solving a variety of coverage and claims mysteries. Each case has one or...
Tennessee Left Reeling by Devastating, Destructive Tornadoes
Mar 4 2020 // Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee early Tuesday, shredding at least 40 buildings and killing 24 people. One of the twisters caused severe damage across downtown Nashville, destroying the stained glass in a historic church...
Coronavirus Update: On Decline in China But of Rising Concern in South Korea, Italy, Iran
Feb 25 2020 // Iran’s coronavirus death toll rose to 16 on Tuesday, the most outside China, heightening its international isolation as dozens of worst-hit nations from South Korea to Italy accelerated emergency measures to curb the...
Facing Hundreds of Abuse Claims, Boy Scouts of America Files for Bankruptcy
Feb 18 2020 // The Boy Scouts of America said on Tuesday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid a flood of lawsuits over allegations of child sexual abuse stretching back decades. The bankruptcy is not expected to affect the...
Woman Sues Idaho Church After Church Van Crashes in Oregon
Feb 13 2020 // A young woman from Idaho who sustained a traumatic brain injury in a 2018 van crash while traveling to a Christian conference in Portland, Ore. with her youth group is suing the church and the youth pastor who was driving...
Man Pleads Guilty to Burning African American Churches in Louisiana
Feb 12 2020 // The aspiring ‘black metal’ musician who was arrested in a series of fires set at African American churches in Louisiana last spring pleaded guilty to federal and state criminal charges. The U.S....
Driver Dies, Passengers Injured in Ohio Church Bus Crash
Feb 4 2020 // A church bus and an SUV crashed on Feb. 2 in Ohio, and the bus driver died, the State Highway Patrol said. The patrol’s Lebanon post reported the crash occurred around 9:30 a.m. on Dixie Highway in Warren...
New Laws Spur Insurers to Reserve for Potential Child Sex-Abuse Claims
Jan 24 2020 // Travelers Companies Inc. has set aside a “modest” amount of additional money to cover its possible exposure to child sex-abuse claims, the insurer’s finance chief, Daniel Frey, told analysts during an...
Wyoming Firm Settles Religious Discrimination Suit
Jan 23 2020 // A Wyoming company has settled a federal lawsuit by a former employee who claimed she was pressured to take Scientology courses as a condition of her employment. Julie A. Rohrbacher filed the lawsuit in 2018 against Teton...
Ex-Church Administrator in Pennsylvania Gets 10 to 20 Years in Theft Case
Jan 21 2020 // A former western Pennsylvania church administrator has been sentenced to 10 to 20 years in the theft of $1.2 million that prosecutors said he and his wife used for vacations, sports tickets and other personal expenses. An...
Alabama Police Say ‘Batman’ Bandit Stealing from Churches
Jan 16 2020 // Police in Alabama are looking for a man who disguised himself as Batman while stealing musical instruments from churches. A burglary happened on Dec. 11 at King’s Way Church in Irondale, AL.Com reported. The caped...
Church Mutual’s Conversion to a Mutual Holding Company Finalized
Jan 6 2020 // Merrill, Wisconsin-based Church Mutual’s conversion of its corporate structure to a mutual holding company became effective Jan. 1, 2020. According to the company, the move provides the organization more flexibility...
Vatican Tribunal Processes ‘Tsunami’ of Clergy Sex Abuse Complaints
Dec 24 2019 // The Vatican office responsible for processing clergy sex abuse complaints saw a record 1,000 cases reported from around the world this year – and still some regions that haven’t reported any allegations at all. The...
