REP CLAUDIA TENNEY: Why is New York punishing nuns who care for the dying?
For more than a century, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have quietly cared for the sick, accompanying them in their final days with dignity and compassion at the Rosary Hill Home in New York. These Catholic nuns provide free hospice care to terminally ill cancer patients who have nowhere else to go. They do not take a dime from patients or taxpayers, they simply serve, guided by their faith and a commitment to charitable care for the most vulnerable among us.
Instead of supporting these dutiful servants of God, the State of New York is threatening these nuns with fines, loss of their license, and even jail time for refusing to give up their faith.
Under a law signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, New York State imposed new radical gender identity mandates on long-term care facilities. In practice, that means these facilities are being forced to adopt policies on room and bathroom assignments based on gender preference, not biological sex, pronoun usage, and internal procedures that directly conflict with the sisters’ religious beliefs.
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State regulators have made clear this is not optional. These women must abandon their faith and surrender to the political machine of Albany or risk legal consequences. New York State would rather shut down a free care center for the terminally ill than allow religious freedom.
This is not about protecting the vulnerable. That is what the sisters already do, freely and without condition. This is about forcing compliance and obedience to the woke mob in Albany, even on those who dedicate their lives to serving others. No one is spared.
This is part of a broader pattern.
Across New York, state officials have bulldozed anyone in their way of implementing this radical agenda. Attorney General Letitia James has pressured hospitals to provide genital mutilation surgeries for minors, warning of legal consequences if they refuse. State agencies have issued guidance to schools mandating adherence to gender identity policies regardless of federal requirements. To make matters worse, Albany politicians are working to erode parent’s rights by allowing schools to hide critical information from parents. New York is using its full power to go after those who refuse to fall in line.
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This is happening at a time when New York is facing serious challenges that demand real leadership and focus. New Yorkers are paying some of the highest taxes in the country, energy costs continue to rise, and families and businesses are leaving the state in record numbers in search of opportunity and affordability elsewhere.
Instead of addressing these issues, Albany is more focused on pushing gender policies to be more radical than the last. Instead of addressing rising costs of healthcare, Albany wants to shut down a free hospice clinic, all while using taxpayer dollars to give free healthcare to illegal aliens. Instead of serving New Yorkers, Albany wants to go after anyone courageous enough to speak against its radical gender identity platform.
That contrast is impossible to ignore.
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New York State 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.
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne do not discriminate; they care for anyone who comes through their doors with compassion and respect in their final days. But in today’s New York, compassion and respect are not a priority. Neither is commonsense public policy.
This is the chilling message being sent by Kathy Hochul, not just to these sisters, but to every faith-based organization, every caregiver, and every institution that does not align with Albany’s ideological agenda.
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It raises a simple question: Who is Albany standing for?
Is it standing for those who dedicate their lives to caring for the sick and dying? Is it standing for New Yorkers? Or is it standing for their ideological system that prioritizes woke mandates over compassion and ideology over service?
The answer matters.
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Because if New York is willing to threaten servants of God who provide free hospice care, then it is clear that they will stop at nothing to quash all dissent. And if this is where the state’s focus lies at a time of rising costs, failing systems, rampant crime, and continued outmigration, then it is clear something is deeply wrong.
Let’s call it for what it is: An attempt to silence the faithful.
New Yorkers deserve better. They deserve leadership that focuses on the problems facing our state, supports those who serve their communities, and respects the fundamental freedoms that define this country.
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne should be honored, not targeted.
And New York should remember that compassion cannot be mandated, and it should never be punished.