SACRAMENTO, June 21, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.net) - Bishop William K. Weigand announced on June 1 that the Diocese of Sacramento will appeal a March 1 California Supreme Court decision holding. The ruling requires Catholic Charities and other church entities to pay for contraceptives as part of employee health insurance. The Court held that Catholic Charities does not fit a “religious employers” exemption to the California Women’s Contraception Act because Catholics do not make up a majority of its employees or of the recipients of its services. “This lawsuit has very little to do with health insurance and everything to do with our fundamental rights as Americans,” replied Bishop Weigand in a press statement. Helping the sick and needy is “fundamental to how Catholics practice their faith. We don’t ask anyone if they are Catholic first.” The Diocese’ brief to the Supreme Court lists as the Question Presented “Whether the State may compel an organ of the Catholic Church, contrary to its religious teachings, to include contraceptives in the prescription drug plan it provides to its employees, and thereby to finance conduct that the Church teaches is sinful.” Catholic Charities serves people of all faiths and helped more than 70,000 people in 20 counties in 2003. Its attorneys do not expect to hear whether the Supreme Court accepts the case until October. See the full Diocesan brief online: http://www.goldsteinhowe.com/blog/files/Catholic%20Charities%20petition.pdf See coverage from diocesan paper: http://diocese-sacramento.org/herald/articles/040605charities.html