The U.S. Department of Justice has moved to become a co-plaintiff alongside the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne in their federal lawsuit challenging a New York state law that requires long-term care facilities to honor patients’ stated gender identities — a requirement the sisters say directly conflicts with their Catholic mission and the Church’s own directives for Catholic health care.

The sisters operate Rosary Hill, a 42-bed palliative care facility in Westchester County dedicated to serving the dying poor, most of them cancer patients. Their ministry traces to Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, who founded the congregation in 1900 after witnessing the suffering of the impoverished sick. The Vatican recognized Lathrop — known in religious life as Mother Mary Alphonsa — as Venerable in a decree issued March 19, 2024, the first formal step toward beatification.

The Law and the Lawsuit

New York’s regulation, which took effect May 28, 2024, mandates that long-term care facilities use residents’ preferred pronouns and assign rooms according to gender identity rather than biological sex. Staff at covered facilities are also required to complete cultural competency training on gender identity every two years. Penalties for noncompliance include fines, injunctions, potential loss of operating licenses, and imprisonment.

The Dominican Sisters filed suit on April 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in White Plains, naming Gov. Kathy Hochul and four administrators within the New York State Department of Health as defendants. The sisters argue that the law compels them to act in ways that contradict the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, which govern the practice of Catholic health ministry and reflect the Church’s understanding of the human person as body and soul, male and female by nature.

The sisters also note a significant disparity in how the law distributes its exemptions: the Christian Science Church and its affiliated institutions are explicitly carved out of the mandate’s reach, while Catholic organizations are not. That selective exemption forms part of the sisters’ religious liberty argument under federal law.

DOJ Enters the Case

On June 18, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dillon announced the Justice Department’s intervention, framing it as a defense of religious freedom against state overreach. “States should take notice that they cannot require Americans to abandon their religious beliefs in the name of woke gender ideology,” Dillon said.

The superior general of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, Mother Marie Edward Deutsch, welcomed the development, expressing gratitude that federal authorities had recognized the gravity of the sisters’ situation. “This gives us hope that the country’s founding principles are still strong after 250 years,” she said.

The Justice Department’s decision to join as co-plaintiff — rather than simply filing a statement of interest — significantly elevates the federal government’s involvement and provides the sisters with substantial legal resources as the case moves forward in federal court.

Catholic Social Teaching and the Care of the Dying

The case touches on long-standing Catholic convictions about the dignity of the human person at the end of life. The Ethical and Religious Directives, issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reflect the Church’s teaching that integral human care must honor the truth of the body — a teaching rooted in the theology of creation and affirmed across magisterial documents from Gaudium et Spes to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The sisters’ ministry itself embodies what Catholic social teaching calls the preferential option for the poor. Their founder, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, gave up a life of literary comfort to nurse destitute cancer patients in New York tenements, building an institution that continues to serve those society most easily forgets. The government’s demand that this ministry alter its practices under penalty of fines and imprisonment strikes at both the religious liberty and the institutional identity of one of American Catholicism’s most distinctive charitable works.

What Comes Next

With the Justice Department now formally involved, the case is expected to proceed in the Southern District of New York. No trial date has been set. The outcome could have implications well beyond New York, as several other states have enacted or are considering similar mandates for health care and residential care facilities operated by religious organizations.