A group of nuns in Texas has declared that they no longer recognize the authority of an embattled Fort Worth bishop, the latest twist in a saga that began when he accused one of their order of violating her vow of chastity.
In a statement, the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns alleged that, over the past four months, they had been “subjected to unprecedented interference, intimidation, aggression, private and public humiliation and spiritual manipulation” by Bishop Michael Olson.
They claimed that Olson had shouted at nuns, violated their privacy, and humiliated them “in private and in public when they protest that their rights have been ignored.”
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“No one who abuses us as has the current Bishop of Fort Worth, has any right to our cooperation or obedience,” the nuns said. “For our own spiritual and psychological safety, and in justice, we must remain independent of this Bishop until such time as he repents of the abuse to which he has subjected us, apologizes in person to our community for it and accepts to make due public reparation.”
Olson and his representatives are also banned from coming onto the property of the order’s 70-acre Arlington monastery, they added.
The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth said in response that it was aware of the “dangerously rebellious decision” by the nuns and called for prayers to stop the “open disobedience,” according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
In their statement, the order said they had been “caught off-guard” by Olson’s behavior towards them in recent months. Olson is the fourth bishop to oversee the Diocese of Fort Worth, and was appointed to the role in 2014.
In April this year, Olson launched an “ecclesiastical investigation” into a rumor that the head of the order, the Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, had violated her vow of chastity with a priest outside the Fort Worth diocese. He dismissed her in June.
The feud had taken several bizarre detours by then. Most notably, in late May, religious officials told police the nuns were hiding “marijuana paraphernalia” at the monastery. Photos of the supposed paraphernalia were supplied to local news outlets by the diocese the next month.
“That’s inside the cloister. I think that’s what they call it, the craft room,” an unnamed diocese source told WFAA at the time.
Matthew Bobo, the nuns’ attorney, called the anonymously-sourced photos “without merit.” He told KERA News, referring to Olson, “It’s pretty typical, it’s his M.O., you know. He just throws a picture out there and says, ‘I’ve got this confidential informant,’ but he doesn't ever provide any proof or backup as to where it came.”
In an eight-minute YouTube video uploaded in June, Olson shot back that any claims that he or the diocese had planted the drugs were “false and baseless.”
That same month, Gerlach and another nun from the order, Sister Francis Therese, filed a $1 million civil lawsuit claiming defamation and invasions of privacy. They alleged that the bishop had illegally seized Gerlach’s personal electronic devices in an effort to dig up dirt on the alleged affair.
“Please pray for the sisters at the Monastery,” the diocese sniffed in response. Olson warned the order he would restrict their access to Mass and confession until they yanked the suit, but restored their access to the sacraments soon after, according to The Pillar, a Catholic news site.
At a court hearing in the case on June 27, the vicar general of the diocese, the Very Rev. Jonathan Wallis, testified that she’d told him of the affair. A 40-minute audio recording of an alleged conversation between Gerlach and Olson in which she appeared to admit to breaking her vow of chastity was also played in court.
She told Olson that the medications she had been taking at the time of the affair had scrambled her judgment, according to KERA News. “Bishop, at the time, I was having seizures, and I was in a very difficult position, and I think my brain just got really messed up,” she said, calling it a “horrible mistake.”
The nuns maintained that Gerlach had been in poor health and under the influence of painkillers when she spoke to both Wallis and Olson. Sister Francis Therese told the Star-Telegram in July that Olson had approached the nuns in January to request that the reverend mother step down from her post over health concerns.
“We told him, ‘Bishop, we don’t want her to step down,’” she said, recalling that he’d thrown a “temper tantrum.” Elsewhere, the order floated the idea that Olson’s actions were motivated by greed, and that he was trying to get their donor list.
On June 30, a judge dismissed the nuns’ lawsuit, saying the civil court didn’t have the jurisdiction to rule on a church matter. “This is a difficult, emotional matter,” the judge said, according to the Dallas Morning News. “I hope everyone respects that.”
The same day, Arlington police closed their criminal investigation into drug use at the monastery, telling NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth that there had been no probable cause to pursue an inquiry any further.
After initially announcing plans to file an appeal in their civil suit, Bobo said at the end of July that the nuns were reversing course, leaving the matter up to the Vatican. Church leaders in Rome had told the order they would not act on Gerlach’s appeal of her dismissal until civil litigation was concluded, he said.
Meanwhile, a petition calling for Olson’s dismissal had been circulated by the nonprofit Laity in Unity Foundation, amassing more than 800 signatures. The petition has been sent to the Vatican, according to the foundation’s president.
“What he has done to the nun is identical to how he has harmed other parishes and priests,” Steve Knobbe told the Star-Telegram. The petition accuses Olson of “misuse of his ordained office,” going against canon law, using abusive language, and leveraging his power to act vindictively towards others.
A canonical investigation into the matter by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of the Apostolic Life remains ongoing. Gerlach remains on administrative leave, according to the diocese.
“Only divine power can cause the bishop to reverse his actions,” Sister Francis Therese told the Star-Telegram in July. “He certainly owes the reverend mother a public apology, but I know that will never come.”
