NATIONWIDE — LEADERS OF RELIGIOUS NONPROFITS are closely watching a case unfolding in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court that involves a question on whether Catholic Charities’ care for the poor and needy without proselytizing fits within the definition of “religious activity.” Last year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in the case Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, that Catholic Charities’ ministry to underserved people was not “typical” religious activity, and that Catholic Charities could not join the Wisconsin Catholic Church’s unemployment compensation program but was stuck paying into the state’s less efficient and more costly plan. Becket, a nonprofit public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions, is representing Catholic Charities Bureau in the Diocese of Superior County. Catholic Charities USA sent an amicus brief stating, essentially, that by following the Gospel commands to be charitable, it is engaged in religious activity. Naming other precedent cases and Vatican policies, the brief also states: “As the national membership organization for Catholic Charities agencies, CCUSA is uniquely situated to speak to the religious purposes of its member agencies’ activities and to educate the Court about the centrality to the Catholic faith of charitable works without proselytizing.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling on this appeal is expected in June. Catholic Charities USA, while not commenting on the case, shared the amicus brief with the Brooklyn Eagle.
