A group of Catholic nuns who have spent more than a century caring for the dying poor filed a federal lawsuit this week challenging a New York state law they say forces them to choose between their faith and their mission, or face fines, loss of their license, and up to a year in prison.

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who run Rosary Hill Home, a 42-bed facility in Hawthorne, New York, are taking on Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Department of Health over the state's "Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and people living with HIV long-term care facility residents' bill of rights." Hochul signed the law on Nov. 30, 2023. The sisters say its mandates would require them to violate Catholic teaching in order to keep operating.

The stakes are not abstract. Fox News Digital reported that noncompliance could bring fines up to $2,000 per violation, rising to $5,000, court-ordered forced compliance, revocation of the home's license, and criminal penalties including up to one year in prison and fines up to $10,000.

That is what New York is prepared to do to nuns who care for terminally ill cancer patients, free of charge, and who have received zero complaints from residents in a four-year reporting period.

What the law demands

The law bars long-term care facilities and their staff "from discriminating against any resident on the basis of a resident's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status." On its face, that sounds unobjectionable. In practice, the sisters contend, it compels them to assign rooms by gender identity rather than biological sex, grant access to opposite-sex bathrooms, use preferred pronouns, train staff in gender ideology, and post a public notice of compliance.

The New York State Department of Health began pressing the issue on March 18, 2024, when it sent the first in a series of "Dear Administrator" letters to Rosary Hill Home. Those letters laid out the state's demands and included a training curriculum, according to a press release from the Catholic Benefits Association. The New York Post reported that the state health department sent the sisters three warning letters about compliance.

The sisters' lawsuit frames the conflict in stark terms. As the Washington Times reported, the complaint states: "A willful violation is a knowing one; there is no element of evil motive required." In other words, the nuns do not have to intend harm. They simply have to know the rule exists and decline to follow it.

Who these nuns are

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne are not a political organization. They are a religious order that has cared for the terminally ill poor for more than 120 years. Their foundress, Mother Alphonsa Hawthorne, charged them to serve those who are "to pass from one life to another" and to "make them as comfortable and happy as if their own people had kept them and put them into the very best bedroom."

Rosary Hill Home takes no insurance, no government funds, and no money from patients or their families. The care is entirely free, funded by private benefactors. The sisters serve patients regardless of race, religion, or sex.

Mother Marie Edward, O.P., the order's general superior, told Fox News Digital:

"We are consecrated religious Sisters and have one mission. 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."

She added that the sisters serve "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."

This is not an institution that has been caught mistreating anyone. The Catholic Benefits Association's press release noted that during the four-year reporting period from Feb. 1, 2022, through Jan. 31, 2026, Rosary Hill Home received zero complaints. During that same window, other New York nursing homes generated more than 55,000 complaints, with an average of 23 citations per facility.

Zero complaints. Zero citations. And yet the state is threatening the sisters with prison.

The religious liberty collision

The lawsuit frames this as a direct collision between state ideology mandates and constitutional protections for religious exercise and free speech. Mother Marie Edward did not mince words:

"New York's gender ideology mandates not only violate our Catholic values, 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 protection of our religious exercise and freedom of speech so that we can continue our ministry to the poor."

The complaint goes further. National Review reported that the lawsuit argues the law violates the sisters' constitutional rights by forcing their long-term care home to accommodate patients' gender identity in speech, room assignments, and bathroom use. The filing itself states: "The implications are so much greater than whether to utter the words 'he' or 'she.' Indeed, to demand that a Catholic deny another's sex is to require him or her to affirm another religious worldview."

That is a precise articulation of the problem. The state is not merely asking for courtesy. It is demanding that the sisters affirm a set of beliefs about human nature that contradict the faith they have organized their entire lives around, and threatening to shut them down if they refuse.

This is not the first time New York has put religious institutions in the crosshairs. The state previously attempted to mandate abortion coverage for nuns before halting that effort under legal pressure. The pattern is consistent: Albany advances sweeping mandates, religious groups push back, and the state acts surprised that people of faith take their convictions seriously.

The state's position

A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health offered a carefully worded response when Fox News Digital sought comment:

"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."

The statement does not address the religious liberty concerns. It does not acknowledge the zero-complaint record. It does not explain why a hospice that serves the dying poor without charge should be treated as a compliance problem. It simply restates the state's commitment to enforcing the law.

Gov. Hochul's office, when contacted by Fox News Digital, referred the inquiry to the Department of Health spokesperson. No separate statement from the governor's office was provided.

The broader fight over religious liberty continues to intensify at every level of government. The Trump administration has moved to establish a dedicated religious liberty office in the White House, signaling federal-level support for the kinds of protections the Dominican Sisters are now seeking in court.

A record that speaks for itself

Sister Stella Mary, O.P., the administrator of Rosary Hill Home, put the sisters' position plainly in the Catholic Benefits Association's press release:

"Our foundress, Mother Alphonsa Hawthorne, charged us to serve those who are 'to pass from one life to another' and to 'make them as comfortable and happy as if their own people had kept them and put them into the very best bedroom.' We intend to continue honoring this sacred obligation but need relief from the Court to do so."

Mother Marie Edward reinforced the point: "We have never had complaints. We cannot implement New York's mandate without violating our Catholic faith."

The numbers tell the rest of the story. In a state where nursing homes racked up more than 55,000 complaints over four years, Rosary Hill Home had none. Where the average facility earned 23 citations, the sisters earned zero. This is the institution Albany decided needed to be brought to heel.

The case echoes other recent clashes between government authorities and religious ministries. In Ohio, a court sided with a pastor after a city spent three years trying to shut down his homeless ministry. The underlying dynamic is the same: officials treat religious conviction as an obstacle to be overcome rather than a right to be respected.

Several open questions remain. The exact court where the lawsuit was filed has not been specified in available reporting, though the Washington Times described it as a federal lawsuit. Whether the sisters have sought an immediate injunction or other emergency relief is also unclear. And it remains to be seen how aggressively New York will defend its enforcement posture against an order of nuns with a spotless record.

Meanwhile, Catholic institutions across the country face mounting pressures from legal mandates to outright hostility, making the Dominican Sisters' fight part of a much larger reckoning over how far the state can reach into the life of the church.

What this case is really about

Strip away the legal filings and the bureaucratic letters, and the picture is simple. A group of nuns who care for dying people, for free, are being told by the state of New York to adopt a set of beliefs they do not hold, train their members in a worldview they reject, and restructure their ministry accordingly. If they refuse, they face financial ruin, the closure of their home, and criminal prosecution.

The state has not alleged that a single resident was harmed. It has not pointed to a single complaint. It has not identified a single person turned away. It has simply decided that compliance with gender identity mandates matters more than a century of service to the dying poor.

When a government threatens to jail nuns for running a free hospice the way their faith requires, the problem is not with the nuns.