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The bishops said they would continue fighting the federal mandate in court.

The administration said the proposal, issued last Friday, would guarantee free coverage of birth control "while respecting religious concerns.''

The bishops said the new proposal seemed to address part of the church's concern. But they said it did not go far enough and failed to answer many questions, like who would pay for contraceptive coverage provided to employees of certain nonprofit religious organizations.

"The administration's proposal maintains its inaccurate distinction among religious ministries,'' said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "It appears to offer second-class status to our first-class institutions in Catholic health care, Catholic education and Catholic charities. The Department of Health and Human Services offers what it calls an 'accommodation,' rather than accepting the fact that these ministries are integral to our church and worthy of the same exemption as our Catholic churches."

Under the White House proposal, churches and religious organizations that object to providing birth control coverage on religious grounds would not have to pay for it. Female employees of such nonprofit organizations could get free contraceptive coverage through a separate plan that would be provided by a health insurer. The institution objecting to the coverage would not pay for the contraceptives. Costs would instead be paid by an insurance company, with the possibility that it could recoup the costs through lower health care expenses resulting in part from fewer births.

The administration refused to grant an exemption or accommodation to secular, for-profit businesses owned by people who said they objected to contraceptive coverage on religious grounds.

The bishops rallied to the defense of such employers.

"In obedience to our Judeo-Christian heritage,'' Cardinal Dolan said in a statement, "we have consistently taught our people to live their lives during the week to reflect the same beliefs that they proclaim on the Sabbath. We cannot now abandon them to be forced to violate their morally well-informed consciences.''

Federal courts have issued differing judgments on the legality of the federal rule requiring most employers to provide contraceptive coverage. The litigation appears likely to end up in the Supreme Court, legal experts said.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia said that the administration proposal, at first glance, had struck some people as a modest improvement. The proposal, he said, appeared to increase the number of religiously affiliated entities that could claim exemption from the requirement to provide contraceptive coverage.

But on closer examination, the archbishop said, the federal mandate "remains unnecessary, coercive and gravely flawed."

"The White House has made no concessions to the religious conscience claims of private businesses, and the whole spirit of the 'compromise' is minimalist," Archbishop Chaput said.

The most difficult question, which the administration has not resolved, is how coverage will be provided to employees of religious organizations that object to contraceptive coverage and serve as their own insurers, without using commercial insurance companies.