Policy offers ‘catastrophic violence’ coverage

The nation’s leading insurer of religious institutions has decided to expand coverage to include incidents of serious violence.

Church Mutual Insurance Company of Merrill, Wis., is adding “catastrophic violence response coverage” to its commercial property and casualty policies, the company announced.

Religious organizations insured by the company will be provided with a maximum of $300,000 of extra coverage if major acts of violence occur at their houses of worship.

There is no extra charge for the additional coverage.

Beyond the traditional medical expenses for victims of violent incidents, the plan includes coverage of counseling for victims and their families, hiring of security services after an incident and payment of up to two-thirds of lost wages of people held hostage or injured during a crisis.

“Our hope and prayer would be, of course, that such dreadful events do not occur in the future,” said Gerald Whitburn, chief executive officer of Church Mutual, in a statement. “However, we’ve concluded that enough violent event have occurred to warrant creating a coverage.”