Cardinal says California ruling could endanger Catholic outreach

Published: 2004-04-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A California Supreme Court ruling that Catholic Charities of Sacramento must provide contraception coverage in its prescription health plan for employees sets a "dangerous precedent," Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick told a gathering of Catholic health care workers. "The Supreme Court of California has come to a decision about what is and what is not a Catholic institution," he said at a brunch in Washington following the annual Rose Mass for health care workers. "(That is) unacceptable to the Constitution of the United States and to everything we believe in." The California Supreme Court ruled that Catholic Charities of Sacramento did not qualify as a religious employer because it provides secular services to people regardless of their religious beliefs and it does not preach its faith to those it serves. Most of that agency's employees and those who receive its services are not Catholic.

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