
(Pixabay)
A hearing is scheduled before the Wisconsin Supreme Court next week in a fight against a claim by state bureaucrats that a Catholic ministry to serve the needs of the poor, elderly and disabled is not part of its faith mission.
Eric Rassbach, senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is scheduled to present oral arguments on Monday in the case Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industrial Review Commission.
Advertisement - story continues below
That state agency has claimed that the actions of Catholic Charities Bureau are not religious, not part of the church's beliefs.
Becket explained that meant, "Catholic Charities Bureau was barred from leaving the state’s unemployment compensation program and joining the Wisconsin Catholic Church’s more efficient unemployment program."
TRENDING: Chevrolet leads the way in upholding American values
Becket explained, "Most Catholic dioceses have a social ministry arm that serves those in need. Catholic Charities Bureau carries out this important work for the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, by helping the disabled, the elderly, and those living in poverty—regardless of their faith. This duty to serve everyone in need comes directly from Catholic Church teaching and advances the Church’s religious mission by carrying out the corporal works of mercy."
Advertisement - story continues below
Under state law, religious non-profits generally are exempt from the state's demand they pay into the bureaucrats' unemployment program.
But a lower court claimed that Catholic Charities Bureau failed to qualify because it does not limit its help to Catholics, and actually serves those in need.
"In fact, the court thought that Catholic Charities Bureau could only qualify if it preached the faith to and tried to convert those it served—even though the Catholic church teaches that care for the poor should never be conditioned on acceptance of the church’s teachings," Becket explained.
An earlier report at Real Clear Wire noted the church ministry has helped people of all faiths for over a century.
And Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki pointed out that since the time of Jesus Christ, the church has had “a mandate from Scripture to serve the poor.”
Advertisement - story continues below
Nonetheless, state bureaucrats have said the ministry actually is "a secular organization."
The case itself is expected to determine if a state has the authority to determine what is a religious activity and what is not, and then impose that belief on churches.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in 1995, already rejected that ideology.
Becket's Daniel Vitagliano earlier commented, "Saying Catholic Charities Bureau is not religious is like saying the Milwaukee Bucks is not a basketball team. It’s as absurd as it sounds."
Advertisement - story continues below
Real Clear Wire reported, "Since 1986, the Catholic Church in Wisconsin has provided its own unemployment insurance, the Church Unemployment Pay Program (CUPP), for lay employees of its institutions, such as schools and parishes."
The Catholic Charities Bureau, however, has been required to subsidize the state's own program.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: Today's ruling elites champion policies every previous generation of Americans would have regarded as outright evil. At the top of that list would be the supremely radioactive issue – illuminated by the hit summer film "Sound of Freedom" – of the widespread trafficking and sexual slavery of children, as well as the shocking prevalence of pedophiles in the United States of America. Indeed, the U.S. is the largest market for child sexual abuse in the world.
According to Tim Ballard, who has led many missions rescuing sex-trafficked children around the world, the Biden administration actually ENABLES AND PROMOTES the trafficking and sexual slavery of children with its horrendous border policies, its push for early sexualization of children, championing children's "right to consent" on everything including mutilating transgender surgeries, and so on.
Advertisement - story continues below
"Pedophiles are sitting back right now," says Ballard, "and going, ‘We've been pushing this agenda for decades, and now we don't have to push any more, because the left is taking care of it for us' – IN AMERICA!"
Ballard's concerns are confirmed by Tara Lee Rodas, a Health and Human Services whistleblower who recently testified before Congress that under Joe Biden, "THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BECOME THE MIDDLEMAN IN A LARGE-SCALE, MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR CHILD TRAFFICKING OPERATION."
But that's just the beginning. The whole, secret criminal mega-enterprise of child sex trafficking and the global elites' affinity for pedophilia is exposed as never before in the August issue of WND's critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, in a groundbreaking issue titled "THE NEW AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE: How the Biden regime enables and promotes child sex trafficking in the U.S.A." WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider!
Advertisement - story continues below
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!