{"id":722915,"date":"2026-04-12T14:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/722915\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T14:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:42:20","slug":"catholic-nuns-sue-new-york-over-trans-nursing-home-law-face-jail-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/722915\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic nuns sue New York over trans nursing home law, face jail time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Catholic nuns who have spent more than a century caring for the dying poor are suing New York Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/kathy-hochul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kathy Hochul,<\/a> saying a new state law could force them to choose between their faith and their mission or face fines, loss of licensing and even jail time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">&#8220;We are consecrated religious Sisters and have one mission,&#8221; Mother Marie Edward, O.P., told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fox News Digital<\/a> in a statement. &#8220;It is to provide comfort and skilled care to persons dying of cancer who cannot afford nursing care. We do not take insurance or government funds or money from our patients or families. The care is totally free.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are supported by the goodness of our benefactors,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;We do this without discriminating on the basis of race, religion, or sex. We do it because Jesus taught us that, when the least among us are sick, we should care for them, as if they were Christ himself.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.ny.gov\/news\/governor-hochul-signs-legislation-protect-rights-seniors-living-hiv-and-members-lgbtqia#:~:text=The%20bill%20builds%20on%20existing%20protections%20from,*%20The%20New%20Pride%20Agenda%20*%20EQNY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Signed into law<\/a> on Nov. 30, 2023, the &#8220;Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and people living with HIV long-term care facility residents&#8217; bill of rights&#8221; bans long-term care facilities and staff &#8220;from discriminating against any resident on the basis of a resident\u2019s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status,&#8221; according to a press release from Hochul&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/doj-fires-warning-shot-letitia-james-over-transgender-treatments-minors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>DOJ FIRES WARNING SHOT AT LETITIA JAMES OVER TRANSGENDER TREATMENTS FOR MINORS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hochul-Dominican-Sisters-of-Hawthorne.jpeg\" alt=\"Hochul-Dominican-Sisters-of-Hawthorne\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>New York Gov. Kathy Hochul attends a press conference on March 19, 2026, in New York City, Dominican Sister of Hawthrone pictured with a resident. (Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images, Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne)<\/p>\n<p>The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who run Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, New York, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the law they say would require them to assign rooms by gender identity, not biological sex; allow access to opposite-sex bathrooms; allow expression, relationships and identity practices; use preferred pronouns; require staff training in gender ideology; and post a public notice stating compliance with the law.<\/p>\n<p>Edward told Fox News Digital that &#8220;New York\u2019s gender ideology mandates not only violate our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/religion\/roman-catholic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Catholic values<\/a>, they threaten our existence with fines, injunctions, license revocation, and even jail time. This is why we were forced to go to court to seek <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/first-amendment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">protection of our religious exercise<\/a> and freedom of speech so that we can continue our ministry to the poor.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/catholicbenefitsassociation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-04-06-Final-Press-Release-HD-v-Hochul-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">press release<\/a> from the Catholic Benefits Association said the New York State Department of Health sent the first in a series of &#8220;Dear Administrator&#8221; letters to the Hawthorne Dominicans&#8217; Rosary Hill Home, a 42-bed facility, on March 18, 2024.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/nj-school-districts-secretive-transgender-policy-faces-legal-threat-bucking-supreme-court-ruling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>NJ SCHOOL DISTRICT\u2019S SECRETIVE TRANSGENDER POLICY FACES LEGAL THREAT FOR BUCKING SUPREME COURT RULING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sister-feeds-resident.jpeg\" alt=\"sister-feeds-resident\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>A Dominican Sister of Hawthorne feeds a resident. (Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne)<\/p>\n<p>The letters listed New York\u2019s demands and included a training curriculum &#8220;requiring the sisters to align patient care and the training of their sisters and employees with the State\u2019s gender ideology.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne do not comply, they face fines up to $2,000 per violation \u2014 rising to $5,000 \u2014 court-ordered forced compliance, loss of licensing and up to one year in prison and fines up to $10,000.<\/p>\n<p>In their lawsuit, the sisters highlighted that during the four-year reporting period from Feb. 1, 2022, through Jan. 31, 2026, the New York State Department of Health had received &#8220;zero complaints&#8221; from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/health\/health-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Rosary Hill Home residents<\/a>, compared with &#8220;more than 55,000 complaints against other nursing homes,&#8221; and an average of 23 citations per facility during the same period.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/cbs-news-margaret-brennan-accused-of-mocking-people-of-faith-after-pete-hegseths-prayer-remarks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>CBS NEWS&#8217; MARGARET BRENNAN ACCUSED OF MOCKING PEOPLE OF FAITH AFTER PETE HEGSETH&#8217;S PRAYER REMARKS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sister-sits-with-resident.jpeg\" alt=\"sister-sits-with-resident\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>A Dominican Sister of Hawthorne sits with a resident. (Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne)<\/p>\n<p>In the press release, Sister Stella Mary, O.P., administrator of Rosary Hill Home, said, &#8220;Our foundress, Mother Alphonsa Hawthorne, charged us to serve those who are \u2018to pass from one life to another\u2019 and to \u2018make them as comfortable and happy as if their own people had kept them and put them into the very best bedroom.\u2019 We intend to continue honoring this sacred obligation but need relief from the Court to do so.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul&#8217;s office for comment and was referred to a spokesperson at the New York State Department of Health who said, &#8220;While the Department does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation, the NYS Department of Health is committed to following state law, which provides nursing home residents certain rights protecting against discrimination including, but not limited to, gender identity or expression.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sister-hugs-resident.jpeg\" alt=\"sister-hugs-resident\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>A Dominican Sister of Hawthorne hugs a resident. (Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne)<\/p>\n<p>Rachel del Guidice is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to rachel.delguidice@fox.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Catholic nuns who have spent more than a century caring&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":722916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,74301,299763,68246,5371,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,181905,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-722915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-culture-trends","10":"tag-first-amendment-religion-us","11":"tag-fox-news-media","12":"tag-kathy-hochul","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-roman-catholic","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116392267017957315","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}