Where Most Needed

Virginia Pastor Ministers with an Iron Hand—and Hot Cars

Leading the same congregation for over 30 years, Pastor Star R. Scott left the Assemblies of God, dismissed the church board, and brooks no dissent among his shrunken but still substantial fellowship.

St. Louis Bishop Reins in Catholic Charities

A takeover of the charity's development office by the archdiocese leads to resignation of the board chair and at least three other board members. 

New York's Largest Soup Kitchen Still Dishing It Out

A New Yorker writer offers an affectionate profile that manages to reveal some of the paradoxes of serving free food in church. 

Unusually Large Charity Fraud—in Alaska!

Alaskans are unusually generous—or there's something else going on—for an embezzler to make off with $75,000 from local chapters of two name-brand charities. 

Big Churches, Small Groups

Mega churches concentrate efforts on developing small group leadership skills to keep their members engaged on a personal level.  Perhaps secular nonprofits need to pay attention. 

Trial Spotlights Lapses in Cleveland Diocese Oversight

The first of two federal trials accuses a former assistant treasurer of the diocese of conspiring with the CFO in an overpriced outsourcing arrangement for accounting and computer services that included kickbacks to the CFO.  But when the CFO was found out, he went to work for the Columbus diocese.  The defense claims that these arrangements were business as usual in Cleveland. 

Dawning of the Dark Side of Philanthropy

A few voices are (re)awakening to the realization that philanthropy is about public relations, not charity.  But they aren't yet ready to abandon the myth of an independent third sector or civil society. 

Attorney Claims Priest Embezzlement is Internal Church Matter

Defense lawyer argues for dismissal of an indictment relating to a million dollars said to have been diverted by a parish priest for the support of his secret family forty miles away from his parishes in rural Virginia. 

Habitat for Humanity in the U.S. Faces Mid Life Crisis

Restructuring after the dismissal of founder Millard Fuller has some affiliates longing for a more grassroots approach, but a glance at form 990s and trends in U.S. housing reveals more fundamental perils facing the organization's mission and methods in its home country. 

Conservative Rabbis to Certify Labor Conditions at Kosher Slaugherhouses

After an exposé of the kosher "Jungle" of processing plants with substandard working conditions, two Conservative jewish associations work jointly to draft rules and enforceable standards for inspection.