The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Church" ...
-
A story of hope, and a lopsided deal
A six-month Boston Globe investigation revealed that a contractor from California was repeatedly employing impoverished, drug-addicted men from an evangelical church to renovate hotels across the country. The story started in Boston, where reporter Casey Ross discovered that the contractor, Installations Plus, was paying illegally low wages to workers trucked up from Victory Outreach Church in Philadelphia. He also traced the illegal behavior to other Massachusetts communities and then to California, where he spent several days tracking down Victory Outreach members who recalled working for the contractor in that state. The result of his reporting was a richly detailed narrative that took readers into a little-known corner of America’s underground economy. After the story’s publication, the state of Massachusetts announced an effort to strengthen labor enforcement against companies that fund and manage projects where significant violations are found. In addition, California labor officials initiated an investigation into the employment practices of Installations Plus.
Tags: Economy; low wages; contractor; workers
-
A Thousand Lives
The book provides the first history of Jim Jones' church in Jonestown, using 50,00 pages of newly released documents and nearly 1,000 audiotapes found in the colony after the massacre, as well as hundreds of hours of interviews with survivors, former members of People's Temple, and government sources.
Tags: People's Temple; Jim Jones; Guyana
-
The Money Machine
The four part series about the Church of Scientology's vast and unusually aggressive fundraising aparatus reveals how the church collects tens of millions of dollars each year using tactics that intimidate and coerce the people it professes to help -- its parishoners.
Tags: Church of Scientology; funding; religion; church
-
All Is Not Forgiven
The investigation found that reforms promised by the Vatican after the priest sex abuse scandal were ignored. Only when confronted with the findings of the investigation did the Archdiocese of Los Angeles admit that its background check of priests did not go beyond reviewing a letter from a former superior.
Tags: sex abuse; priests; Vatican; Catholic Church
-
Render Unto Rome
This book investigates the Catholic Church's finances and breaks new ground on several fronts including fiscal mismanagement, embezzlement and abuse.
Tags: Catholic Church; book
-
Spiritually Bankrupt
The investigation revealed the coordinated lengths to which the Roman Catholic Church was protecting its vast wealth from sex abuse victims.
Tags: sex abuse; Catholic Church; priests; ; Pope Benedict XVI
-
"Money and Influence Peddling in the Vatican"
Reporter Jason Berry took an in-depth look at how sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was allowed to continue. His series of stories that appeared in the National Catholic Reporter, focused on Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, a prominent figure in the Church. Berry revealed that Maciel, who has allegedly sexually abused his seminarians since the 1950s, has been making payments to various Vatican officials that have "insulated the priest from punishment."
Tags: Vatican; Catholic; Priest; Father; Legion of Christ; sexual abuse; seminarians; Rome; Pope John Paul
-
Inside Scientology
The investigation examines the extraordinary amount of control the Church of Scientology has over its members. One story shows how church members were pressured to get abortions or face jobs loss. Other stories examine the church's questionable finances.
Tags: Church of Scientology; Scientology; abortion; religion; church corruption
-
Scientology vs. Anonymous
This series focuses on the “struggle between one of the world’s most secretive churches and the internet’s most elusive protest organization”. Further, it reveals that the allegations of abuse by the Scientology leaders were never investigated by law enforcement. Additionally, the Anonymous protesters, considered a hate group, received donations from ranking church members.
Tags: Hemet, California; Riverside County Supervisor; L. Ron Hubbard; origin; religion; controversy; battle; war
-
The Swedish Crusade
The interview of Bishop Richard Williamson led to the most serious conflict between the Jewish and the Catholic communities. In the interview the Bishop denied the existence of the Holocaust, who was excommunicated from the Church. Though, after the Pope lifted this excommunication, criticism of the Pope and the Vatican began. The follow-up revealed that the "persons responsible within the Vatican could have avoided the upcoming crisis, but decided to neglect the information".
Tags: Society of St. Pius X(SSPX); Protestant Sweden; neo-Nazi; conservative; Cardinal; church; religion; Catholic