Texas megachurch pastor to surrender in Oklahoma on child sexual abuse charges
Robert Preston Morris, 63, is expected to surrender to officials in Osage County, where he was charged last week with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child
Churches
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Religious groups challenge order allowing on-site raids
A few denominations have been protected by a recent ruling, but most of the nation’s churches and temples remain subject to potential immigration raids.
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Searching for truth: IU McKinney law librarian publishes book detailing historic Indianapolis churches
Light filtered gently through murky multicolored glass on a weekday afternoon at the Christ Church Cathedral on Monument Circle as law librarian Lee Little expertly described the intricacies of the historic structure. Enthralled by the rich, complex and at times painful pasts of churches in the Indianapolis area, Little — a research and instruction librarian and adjunct lecturer in law at the Ruth Lilly Law Library at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law — decided to put pen to paper and document the city’s churches and congregations.
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2 attorneys leave the law to answer the call of their faith
Neither Bishop Robert McClory of the Diocese of Gary nor United Methodist Pastor Denise Robinson experienced a jolt of conversion where they suddenly decided to make a U-turn and enter the religious life. Rather, the former commercial litigator and the former prosecutor, respectively, had long heard a quiet call of their faith and tried to respond by being active members of their churches. Eventually, however, they each determined they needed to do more, so they walked away from their legal careers to join the clergy.
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Giving and taking: Landmark high court LGBTQ employment ruling clouded by ministerial exception expansion
Just as celebrations were starting over the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that Title VII protections cover transgender workers, another opinion from the nine justices shielded religious organizations from lawsuits by expanding the ministerial exception legal doctrine and injected more energy into potential religious liberty challenges to anti-discrimination laws.
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Articles
New York church sues Indy-based Disciples of Christ fund over disputed loan
The church sued Indianapolis-based Disciples Church Extension Fund in a dispute over $7.3 million in loan funding. The extension fund, which is the financing arm of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination, denies the lawsuit's allegations.
Church sex abuse scandals in East Timor met by silence, but Pope Francis’ visit brings new attention
Pope Francis will come face to face with the Timorese faithful on his first trip to the country, a former Portuguese colony that makes up half of the island of Timor off the northern coast of Australia. But so far, there is no word if he will meet with victims or even mention the sex abuse directly, as he has in other countries where the rank-and-file faithful have demanded an accounting from the hierarchy for how it failed to protect their children.
Ex-Roncalli counselor Fitzgerald appeals ruling in favor of Indianapolis Archdiocese
Michelle “Shelly” Fitzgerald, the former guidance counselor at Roncalli High School who was fired for being in a same-sex marriage, is fighting the dismissal of her lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
Payne-Elliott decides to end litigation against Indianapolis Archdiocese
Joshua Payne-Elliott, the former Cathedral High School teacher who sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis after he lost his job for being in a same-sex marriage, has decided to end his litigation.
Dismissal of lawsuit against Archdiocese highlights sharp divisions
The lawsuit filed by Michelle “Shelly” Fitzgerald against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis hinged on the question of not what she actually did as a guidance counselor, but what the school expected her to do.
Court rules in favor of Archdiocese in discrimination dispute with second Roncalli teacher fired for same-sex marriage
The Indiana Southern District Court has tossed the final discrimination lawsuit brought by a former Roncalli High School guidance counselor against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
Justices side with LGBTQ group at Jewish university, for now
The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for an LGBTQ group to gain official recognition from a Jewish university in New York, though that may not last.
As Indiana courts rule for Catholic church, one discrimination case still undecided
In dismissing a lawsuit filed by a gay teacher against the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the Indiana Supreme Court became the second court to rule against an LGBTQ educator by finding that hiring and firing decisions are church matters not governed by the state.
Indiana justices rule state cannot interfere in Indianapolis Archdiocese’s firing of gay Cathedral teacher
The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, finding the church-autonomy doctrine prohibits the state from interfering in the Catholic Church’s dispute with a high school teacher who claimed he was fired for being in a same-sex marriage.
Justice Alito mocks foreign critics of abortion reversal
Justice Samuel Alito mocked foreign leaders’ criticism of the Supreme Court decision he authored overturning a constitutional right to abortion, in his first public comments since last month’s ruling. The justice’s remarks drew more criticism as well as some support.
In affirming dismissal of Roncalli discrimination lawsuit, Easterbrook advises starting with statute
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has again sided with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by Lynn Starkey, a Roncalli High School guidance counselor who was fired for being in a same-sex marriage.
Owners of Hindu temple lose fraudulent inducement appeal against building seller
The owners of a southern Indiana Hindu temple who claim they were misled about the acceptable uses of a building they purchased for an intended religious facility failed to demonstrate fraudulent inducement, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has affirmed.
7th Circuit upholds decision in Roncalli discrimination lawsuit
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a former guidance counselor’s discrimination claims against Roncalli High School and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
Justices grapple with church autonomy in fight over firing of Cathedral teacher
During the June 28 oral arguments in the dispute between the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and the former Cathedral High School teacher who was fired for being in a same-sex marriage, the Indiana Supreme Court wrestled with a central question: When can civil government exercise authority over church matters?
Man pleads guilty to stealing checks intended for churches, including in Indiana
A Florida man has pleaded guilty in connection with the theft of more than 2,600 checks intended for religious institutions in several states, including Indiana, that were deposited into fake bank accounts, a federal prosecutor in Maryland said.
Archdiocese seeks Indiana Supreme Court ruling on case from Catholic teacher fired for same-sex marriage
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to end the case brought by a gay teacher fired from Cathedral High School, asserting the judiciary could be irreparably harmed by an “intrusion into religious affairs.”
NW Indiana man sentenced for ransacking Hammond church
A northwest Indiana man has been sentenced to community corrections and probation for breaking into a Hammond church with another man in 2019 and proceeding to ransack the sanctuary and its contents.
Indiana AG sides with Indianapolis Archdiocese in discrimination appeal
Wading into the fight between a former school guidance counselor and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is asserting the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is prohibited from “interfering” in church decisions by the legal doctrine of the ministerial exception.
7th Circuit won’t revive Illinois churches’ COVID suit
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to revive a lawsuit filed by two churches requesting an injunction forbidding Illinois’ governor from reinstating capacity limits on religious services in the future like he did at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.