Catholic Nuns Again Forced To Defend Themselves In Court From Godless Liberals

Roman Catholic nuns operating a New York facility that provides care for poor cancer patients launched a lawsuit against the state, alleging that a law mandating transgender affirmation for certain facilities violates the Constitution.

The complaint was filed by the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who run a 42-bed facility — Rosary Hill Home — alleging that the state’s law infringes on their religious liberty. (RELATED: State Founded As Catholic Colony Just Voted To Wipe Out Legacy)

The law, Senate Bill S1783A, establishes what it refers to as the LGBT long-term care facility residents’ “bill of rights,” with the goal of preventing discrimination against residents’ “actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,” according to the New York State Senate.

The law requires facilities to use the preferred pronouns of patients and assign rooms and allow restroom access based on the gender identity of their patients.

The complaint alleges the bill directly violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

“Requiring a person to identify another by a sex other than his or her God-gifted sex would therefore require such a person to act against central, unchangeable and architectural teachings of the Catholic faith,” the complaint said.

“Indeed, to demand that a Catholic deny another’s sex is to require him or her to affirm another religious worldview,” the lawsuit added.

The complaint followed a series of “Dear Administrator” letters from the New York State Department of Health that listed the government’s demands and training curriculum on gender ideology, according to a press statement.

“We Sisters have taken care of patients from all walks of life, ideologies and faiths. We treat each patient with dignity and Christian charity. We have never had complaints. We cannot implement New York’s mandate without violating our Catholic faith,” General Superior of the Hawthorne Dominicans Mother Marie Edward said in the press statement.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 19: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul waves during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The defendants in the lawsuit include Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, the director of the Division of Residential Support Center for Residential Surveillance Office of Aging and Long-Term Care of the New York State Department of Health, the director of the Division of Adult Care Facility and Assisted Living Surveillance of the New York State Department of Health, and the director of the Division of Nursing Home.

For the last 125 years, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have only been providing care for individuals with a terminal cancer diagnosis who also have nobody else capable of caring for them, according to Dominican friar and theologian Fr. Thomas Petri. He added that the sisters do not charge insurance or any government-subsidized health care.

“We cannot cure our patients, but we can assure the dignity and value of their final days and keep them comfortable and free of pain,” a statement released by the Catholic Benefits Society said. (RELATED: Town Unveils ‘Little Palestine’ Sign)

The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic religious institute for women, previously fought against the government between 2012 and 2020, pushing back against the requirement to provide cost-free contraceptives and abortifacients in their health insurance plans, according to the Christian Legal Society.

The Daily Caller reached out to the New York State Department of Health for comment but has not heard back as of publication.