The Diocese of Sacramento will appeal a California Supreme Court decision holding that Catholic Charities of Sacramento is not a religious institution.

Bishop William K. Weigand announced June 1 that he will take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn a March 1 decision by the state’s highest court, which requires Catholic Charities and other church entities to pay for contraceptives as part of employee health insurance.

The 6-1 ruling said Catholic Charities of Sacramento may not be exempted from a 1999 state law that requires all employers to include contraceptives when they provide insurance coverage for prescriptions. The ruling could affect hospitals, colleges and universities and social service agencies run by the Catholic Church and other faith groups.

“This lawsuit has very little to do with health insurance and everything to do with our fundamental rights as Americans,” Bishop Weigand said in a press statement. It comes down to a simple question, he said: “Under the Constitution, does the state of California have the right to tell its citizens how to practice their religion?”

Catholic Charities challenged the law in July 2000 on the grounds that it unconstitutionally imposes a mandate that is contrary to the teachings of the church, which opposes all artificial means of contraception. The law does not require employers to provide coverage for prescriptions in general, but Catholic Charities argued that the church’s social justice teachings call for it to provide prescription coverage as a moral duty.

The Women’s Contraception Equality Act, passed by the California Legislature in 1999, includes an exemption for “religious employers” but defines those as nonprofit institutions directly involved in inculcating religious beliefs, and whose employees and beneficiaries of services are primarily members of the faith group.

The state Supreme Court in its March decision said Catholic Charities does not qualify as a religious employer because it offers secular services to the public without regard for the recipients’ beliefs and without preaching about Catholic values. Catholics do not make up either a majority of its employees or a majority of the recipients of its services.

Bishop Weigand said that providing aid to the sick and needy is “fundamental to how Catholics practice their faith. We don’t ask anyone if they’re Catholic first.”

The bishop added: “If we turned our back on the basic teachings of our religion and employed only Catholics, provided charity and social services only to Catholics, educated only Catholics in our universities and treated only Catholics in our hospitals, we would be in compliance with the law.”

Attorneys for Catholic Charities — Kevin Baine in Washington, D.C. and James Sweeney in Sacramento — filed their petition with the Supreme Court May 28. The state of California has 30 days to respond.

According to the press statement, attorneys for Catholic Charities do not expect to hear whether the court accepts the case until October. At least four justices must agree to hear the case before it comes before the full court. If it is rejected, the state Supreme Court decision will stand.

Catholic Charities of Sacramento serves people of all faiths and in 2003, according to the press statement, the organization helped more than 70,000 people in the 20 counties which comprise the Diocese of Sacramento.