A children’s hospital in Milwaukee is facing a wave of criticism after officials there hired a transgender activist as a chaplain.
The activist/chaplain, who was hired by Children’s Wisconsin, “has shared a poem titled ‘Jesus at the Gay Bar’ and started a GoFund me page for her partner to have her breasts removed,” the Daily Wire reported.
The hospital distributed flyers that said, “Meet Your New Chaplain: Kate Newendorp,” with pronouns listed as “she/her/hers” and her partner’s listed as “they/he.”
“Working in a pediatric hospital is a dream come true!!” Newendorp states on the flier, as The Federalist reported. “I am so excited to be working alongside everyone and am pumped to be part of the team. Think of me as your friendly next-door neighbor!”
“We have already seen that Children’s holds little value for respecting deeply held religious beliefs, given their recent COVID Religious Waiver Committee. But this feels like a step too far. This feels like they have actively recruited activists into this field to further their progressive agenda,” one Children’s Wisconsin employee told The Federalist. “I think this situation really calls into question who do we want guiding the spiritual development of our children — especially children who are stuck in a hospital, isolated, sometimes alone, and extremely vulnerable and easily impressionable.”
The reference to the hospital’s past history vis religious beliefs is a reference to fellow Chaplain Ian Butts, who spoke with Children’s staffers who submitted religious exemption requests in order to avoid having to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The questions included the specifics of the employees’ personal religious convictions and their vaccination record, with Butts pressing on what he considered to be contradictions,” Kylee Griswold of The Federalist wrote in February 2022. “Two particularly leading questions regarded the specifics of how the employees would keep their patients safe without being vaccinated, implying a moral implication of refusing a vaccine, as well as how they could square working for a hospital that mandated something so contrary to their personal convictions as a condition of employment.”
In June, Newendorp took to Facebook to write: “Love Jesus. Be gay. Get ordained. What better way to celebrate Pride than being ordained?! Many thanks to my church and classes for being willing to stand for queer folks being included in ministry and for allowing me to follow God’s call.”
In October, she noted, “Also your casual reminder that my validity as an ordained minister is currently under review by my denomination because of the love I feel for my fiancé. Do better Church, because I’m not going anywhere. I was called.”
The hospital also put out a flyer regarding “Spiritual Care Intern” Meg Trimm. The Federalist reported:
Trimm has shared numerous TikToks of herself “deconstructing my white supremacy,” explaining that “gender is infinite,” proclaiming, “God is TRANSGENDER!!!” and saying, “God has a purpose for your life, and it might be fricken queer!”
I am deeply concerned with this new infiltration of trans activists into our chaplain and faith-based services,” the former Children’s employee told the outlet.
“We have already witnessed the erosion and lost of public trust in fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, and general mental health counselors due to the rise of activists in these areas. Now parents have to worry about this as well?” the former staffer added.
“We have many parents and families at Children’s who are deeply religious and hold traditional Judeo-Christian values. Will these new chaplains be able to serve the need of these families objectively? How will they properly support a grieving parent who is dealing with a child’s traumatic injury? How will they properly counsel a child who may be alone in the hospital due to a single parent working to make ends meet and maintain insurance?” the former staffer asked.
