Calling COBOL from Java on z/OS - JNI or something else now?

Small utility needs Java front end talking to existing COBOL routines on z/OS. Last time I looked at this everyone said JNI and pray.

Is there a saner pattern on current z/OS or still mostly JNI and batch bridges?

We use a thin COBOL wrapper called from Java through the standard interop samples IBM ships. Still not pretty but better than raw JNI for our team.

If it can be online, a CICS LINK from a Java wrapper program might be less pain than batch JNI.