Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, filed new theft and defamation charges Friday against Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth.
Newsdesk (06/06/2023 17:50, Gaudium Press) The nuns’ new charges were filed in a district court for Tarrant County, Texas, the day after Olson dismissed the monastery’s prioress, Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, from religious life on the grounds that she had a sexual affair with an unnamed priest.
In a Thursday decree, in the afternoon on June 1, Olson issued a decree explaining that he had found Mother Teresa Agnes (Gerlach) of Jesus Crucified to be guilty of “having violated the sixth commandment of the Decalogue and her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth.”
“Therefore, as Pontifical Commissary of the Monastery in Arlington, Texas, and as the Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Bishop Olson dismissed Mother Teresa Agnes from the Order of Discalced Carmelites,” a diocesan statement explained.
Olson has also announced that he will restore daily Mass to the monastery, after announcing last month that it would be prohibited until the monastery dropped a lawsuit filed against the bishop.
The dismissal is the latest salvo in a contentious public battle between Olson and the monastery.
The new charges levied by the monastery are in addition to a lawsuit filed on May 3 that seeks $1 million in civil damages and asks the court to block the bishop’s and the diocese’s access to any records obtained by confiscating the reverend mother’s property.
“Bishop Olson forced the Reverend Mother to turn over her computer, iPad, and cellular phone to him personally,” the charge states.
Though the physical property has since been returned, the nuns alleged that the diocese made digital copies of the information containing “private correspondence, private documents, extensive medical records,” and financial information, “including but not limited to donor lists.”
“This is the private property of the Plaintiffs, none of which is relevant or related to the canonical investigation, which according to the Defendants has now been concluded,” the suit says.
Additionally, the nuns claim that Olson and the diocese defamed Gerlach by voluntarily publishing “patently false and defamatory” statements about the prioress on the diocesan website.
In turn, the diocese is arguing that the dispute is an ecclesiastical matter and should not be heard in a civil court.
The civil hearing on the case is set for June 23.
Although Olson has concluded his ecclesiastical investigation and the diocese alleges that Gerlach admitted to the misconduct, the monastery’s attorney Matthew Bobo emphatically denies that claim.
According to Bobo, Gerlach, 43, was under the influence of pain medication related to a surgery when she is alleged to have admitted to the affair and “has not admitted to any grave misconduct that would warrant his extreme and emotionally damaging measures.”
Per Olson’s decree, Gerlach has 30 days to appeal her dismissal to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of the Apostolic Life.
Bobo has said that Gerlach intends to appeal the decision.
It has not been immediately clear what alleged canonical crime Olson was actually investigating. While the Church teaches that it is a grave sin to engage in sexual acts outside of marriage, not all such acts are canonical crimes, or grounds for dismissal from religious life.
Canon law establishes the possibility of criminal penalties for sexual activity which is coercive, public, or persistent, but does not establish that singular incidences of sexual conduct are always classified as canonical crimes. The bishop has not specified what might classify Gerlach alleged sexual misconduct as canonically criminal.
Canon lawyers advising the nuns have said that lack of specificity makes it especially difficult to understand Olson’s actions, or to understand if the bishop has other, as-yet-unspoken concerns about the monastery.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA and The Pillar
