“For that reason, courts have consistently declined to question whether a particular belief or practice is central to a particular religion,” the groups said.
Catholic Charities Bureau, meanwhile, argued in its filing that the Catholic Church “holds that charity is as integral to its nature as liturgical worship and spreading the faith.”
The Church “practices charity as a fundamentally religious activity in which it both encounters Christ in those served and bears witness to the Gospel to the world,” they wrote.
“For these reasons — not simply as a humanitarian act or means to proselytize or impose the faith on others — the Church instructs bishops to perform charitable works through Catholic Charities or similar charitable organizations under their guidance.”
Wisconsin law allows religious organizations to opt out of the state’s unemployment system if they can provide comparable services through a private, nonstate system.
The rule applies to “an organization operated primarily for religious purposes and operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches” or “by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of his or her ministry or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by such order,” according to state law.
Founded by the Catholic Diocese of Superior in 1917, Catholic Charities Bureau continues to be operated by the diocese, providing services to the poor, disabled, and elderly.
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