As leaders across the country continue to call for social distancing and implement restrictions on large gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19, some citizens have balked at the idea of interrupting their normal religious activities. But as long as restrictions on churches are non-discriminatory, experts say the restrictions are likely constitutional.
Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana member Megan Culp reflects on the positive things I’ve experienced during the COVID-19 crisis to give others a small distraction from the negatives.
A 57-year-old man has been charged in the death of a woman who was found strangled and stabbed last year inside an Indianapolis church, authorities said.
A South Bend ministry that provides transitional housing and job training for people re-entering society after incarceration won an appeal against a man who was awarded damages after claiming he was wrongly barred from the property and forced to come up with money to stay at a hotel.
A proposal aimed at banning private schools that discriminate against gay employees and students from receiving Indiana voucher program money is being backed by the state’s Republican school superintendent.
Conservative religious groups are planning to appeal an Indiana judge’s ruling that canceled a trial challenging limits on the state’s religious objections law that were signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence.
A motion in a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Archdiocese to limit discovery to the question of whether a fired gay counselor falls under the First Amendment’s “ministerial exception” has been defeated in “close call” in Indiana federal court.
An administrator at a Catholic high school in Indianapolis has been charged with a misdemeanor in a dispute with a 14-year-old student in the cafeteria. Students told police that Bob Tully of Roncalli High School put a choke hold on a student during a dispute over a food spill on Dec. 6.
The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider expanding protections for churches against job-discrimination claims.
The oral arguments scheduled for Dec. 12 in the case involving the Cathedral High School teacher fired by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for being in a same-sex marriage have been postponed, but the judge presiding over the matter is hopeful the parties will reach a settlement in the interim.
Declaring the courts have no jurisdiction over church doctrine, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis will be in Marion Superior Court next week, arguing for the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a teacher who was fired from his position at Cathedral High School because he is in a same-sex marriage.
Police in Indianapolis say the death of a woman at a Catholic church building has been ruled a homicide.
A suspended Catholic priest in Indiana is facing charges alleging he sexually abused a child in 2016. The Rev. David Marcotte of Indianapolis is charged in Hamilton County with child solicitation, vicarious sexual gratification and dissemination of matter harmful to minors.
Continuing a tradition that dates from 1245, Red Masses will be celebrated in Indianapolis, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Zionsville at the start of October.
Two southern Indiana men have been arrested on charges alleging they vandalized a rural church with graffiti including sexual references, satanic symbols and racist comments. Two 25-year-old Bloomington men, Tyler J. Price and Gregory Silvey, have been charged with criminal mischief.
Catholic church leaders in Indianapolis are citing the First Amendment as a defense to a lawsuit filed by a teacher who was fired because he’s in a same-sex marriage.
Authorities say two men are facing charges after they allegedly ransacked a northwestern Indiana church and left behind painted hate messages. Hammond police announced Saturday that 23-year-old Aaron J. Vanoppens and 22-year-old Nicholas D. Reding were charged with one count each of burglary and institutional criminal mischief after the interior of Faith United Church of Christ in Hammond sustained significant damage.
A New Jersey county wants the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that bars a longstanding practice of giving public historic preservation grants to churches.
An Indiana Senate panel has advanced a bill that would allow churches to let people to carry guns in more circumstances. The measure by Republican Sen. Jack Sandlin of Indianapolis was approved 5-2 Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.