Who Decides?

New York's Catholic bishops are right to support the group of religious organizations as they appeal the alarming decision by Judge Dan Lamont that gives the state a huge say in the question of what is, and what is not, Catholic.

Ruling in State Supreme Court in Albany Nov. 25, Judge Lamont rejected the religious groups' challenge to the year-old state law that mandates contraception coverage in health insurance by religious employers.

In all of its other aspects, the Women's Health and Wellness Act is a praiseworthy piece of legislation that addresses critical needs by requiring employer-provided health insurance to cover mammograms, bone density tests and cervical cancer screenings.

It's only the requirement that contraceptive pills and devices be covered that poses a problem for Catholic-run schools, nursing homes and other charitable agencies. And it's a big problem, given the Church's teaching that use of such artificial methods of contraception is sinful.

When the law was being drawn up, Church leaders pushed for religious agencies to be exempt from any provisions that violate their beliefs. In reality, this would have applied only to the contraception clause.

But even that was too much for the anti-religion interest groups promoting their own agendas in the state capital. They grudgingly agreed to a religious exemption in the bill, but it was drawn so narrowly as to be almost meaningless - covering only diocesan chanceries, parish rectories and seminaries.

The bishops immediately saw the ramifications of the law and, through the New York State Catholic Conference, supported the group of Catholic and Protestant agencies that filed a suit challenging it as unconstitutional on both the federal and state levels.

The points the plaintiffs make are obvious. The law seems in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution's free exercise of religion clause by forcing religious institutions to act against their beliefs. How? By forcing them to provide something they consider sinful.

It seems just as clearly in violation of the establishment clause by arbitrarily deciding what may or may not be considered Catholic. Ironically, by granting the religious agencies the narrow exemption, the law has in effect conceded that the agencies have a right to opt out of something they consider sinful. Then, however, it goes on to decree what is legitimately religious by dividing the Catholic Church into a worship category and a "good works" category.

A parish may be exempt, a nursing home may not be.

The teachings of the Catholic Church, and of many other denominations and faiths, instruct that we must do works of mercy as part of our faith. It's not an option, it's required. And it's not for the state to decide. Not here, and not in California - where a decision in a similar case is imminent.

The battle must go on.

Almost always, the good works we perform as Catholics require a certain amount of sacrifice and are quite direct. Like when we make a large donation to our parish or another worthy cause, or volunteer for a time-consuming responsibility such as manning a church shelter overnight or teaching a religion class to children.

A few weeks ago, however, U.S. Catholics were offered an opportunity to participate in a major social justice project at a small cost to them in money and time but carrying a potentially huge benefit to struggling coffee farmers around the world.

The CRS Coffee Project launched by Catholic Relief Services, in cooperation with the fair trade advocacy group Equal Exchange, has the ambitious goal of boosting consumption of so-called fair trade coffee by directly marketing the coffee to the nation's 65 million Catholics.

It's a project that deserves the support of all of us.

In recent years, increases in coffee production, primarily in Vietnam, caused a plummet of prices on the world market. Coffee fell from a wholesale high of $1.40 per pound in 1999 to just 45 cents in 2001. Many farmers have reported receiving as little as 15 to 20 cents per pound for their crop. Nicaragua, highly dependent on coffee farming, has been particularly hard hit, with its historic 200 million pounds of annual coffee production plunging to an estimated 70 million pounds in 2002.

It's not surprising that the crisis, the worst in 30 years, has resulted in entire crops left to rot on coffee bushes in Kenya and Guatemala, 30,000 farm jobs slashed in El Salvador, and long-held small farms abandoned in Nicaragua while families move to urban shantytowns in search of work.

The Coffee Project, which is supported by other religious groups as well as CRS, is not going to miraculously reverse this calamity. But by paying a guaranteed minimum price for coffee purchased directly from the farmers - $1.26 per pound of conventionally grown coffee and $1.41 for organic - the project can have a direct, substantial effect on the lives of small-scale coffee farmers and their families.

Catholics can support the project in a number of ways. First, by encouraging their parishes to serve fair trade coffee, tea and cocoa at church after Mass and at special events. Parishes can also sell the products to parishioners, on a monthly basis, for use at home, and buying clubs can be organized.

The products are generally ordered in bulk and the wholesale price to faith-based organizations is on a par with retail. The Web site www.CRSFairTrade.org lists wholesale prices starting at $4.50 per pound for conventional coffee, $5 for organic, and $5.25 for flavored coffee.

But as CRS said in announcing the project, buying and drinking the coffee will offer not just material help to the farmers. It will give Catholics the opportunity to live out their faith, which calls them not only to learn about injustices around the world but to actively work for justice and support of the poor. In that way, "the Body of Christ will continue to grow."