New York representative speaks out against state’s targeting of Dominican sisters who care for the dying

In an April 21 op-ed published on FOX News, New York Rep. Claudia Tenney, a Republican, condemned “radical gender identity mandates” imposed on long-term care facilities, saying the requirements target the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne by requiring practices that conflict with their Catholic faith and moral teaching.

The religious order, which follows the tradition of Saint Dominic, provides palliative care to cancer patients in their final days and describes its ministry as extending God’s “healing presence.”

The sisters and the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer filed a federal legal challenge April 14 against the New York State Department of Health, naming New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and officials with the state Department of Health, according to the National Catholic Bioethics Center, after they were informed their facility would be shut down if they do not comply with a 2024 law that Tenney argues is part of a broader effort by the state to regulate institutions that do not align with its “ideological agenda.”

In their legal complaint, the sisters state, “All employees and clinical contractors at Rosary Hill affirm the truth of Catholic Church teachings and pledge to conduct themselves consistently with the teachings of the Church and the values of the Sisters."

The law, S.1783A/A.372A, requires long-term care facilities to make accommodations based on “gender identity,” including room assignments and the use of “preferred pronouns” – actions the sisters say would require them to act contrary to their Catholic faith and moral teaching and undermine their mission to uphold each person’s dignity.

“New York state,” Tenney said, “is focused on shutting down a charitable institution that provides care, compassion and dignity to those at the end of their lives, while they allow New Yorkers to suffer from the consequences of their own policies.”

According to Tenney, the sisters have provided compassionate care to the dying for more than a century. She said the state’s actions are “an attempt to silence the faithful” and to force obedience to the “woke mob.”