Fort Worth bishop warns nuns they could be excommunicated over rebellious behavior
Bishop Michael Olson has warned the leader of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity that she and other nuns could possibly face excommunication for rejecting his authority as bishop and pontifical commissary.
In a statement posted to the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth’s website, Olson said the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach’s action hurt him as a friend and cut a deep wound in the unity of the diocese.
The announcement was the latest twist in a dispute that has played out publicly since May, when Gerlach and Sister Francis Therese sued Olson over his investigation into a report that Gerlach broke her vow of chastity with a priest.
Olson, in his statement to the faithful, said
“Mother Teresa Agnes, thereby, may have incurred upon herself latae sententiae, ( i.e., by her own schismatic actions), excommunication. The other nuns, depending on their complicity in Mother Teresa Agnes’ publicly, scandalous and schismatic actions could possibly have incurred the same latae sententiae excommunication,”
The Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity posted a statement to its website Friday saying it had been “subjected to unprecedented interference, intimidation, aggression, private and public humiliation and spiritual manipulation as the direct result of the attitudes and ambitions of the current Bishop of Fort Worth.”
The nuns said they no longer recognize Olson’s authority and that they forbid him or his officials from setting foot on the monastery grounds and of having any relations with the nuns or novices. But they remain faithful to the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
Olson dismissed Gerlach from the order on June 1, a day after the Vatican gave him the authority to investigate reports that she had sex with a priest. She has denied the allegation and appealed her dismissal to the Vatican. Gerlach oversees the monastery on 72 wooded acres in Arlington.
Gerlach and Sister Francis Therese sued Olson in May, alleging that Olson defamed her, invaded their privacy and stole personal electronic devices during his investigation into reports of Gerlach’s transgressions. A Tarrant County judge dismissed the lawsuit in June, ruling the dispute was a church matter.
The diocese did not respond to questions from the Star-Telegram on whether Olson would go forward with excommunicating the nuns or to explain the process.
In their statement, the Carmelite nuns said Olson has abused their trust.
“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,” the statement read.
The monastery said Friday that there would be no further comments.
Sheila Johnson, a long-time friend of the sisters whose mother Ruth Carter Stevenson donated the 72 acres for the monastery, called Olson’s statement on the possible excommunication “unacceptable.”
“He has absolutely no grounds to do this,” she said. “He’s just desperate; he’s not winning.”
Criticism of Olson also came from from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Vatican envoy to the United States.
“I invite everyone to support the courageous resistance of the Carmelite Nuns of Arlington with prayer and material help, not only for the sake of supporting them but also in order to send a clear signal to those in the Church who believe that they hold absolute power, even to the point of contradicting with impunity the Authority of Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body. Resisting is a duty that Catholics of all times have never shirke,” Vigano wrote in a statement posted to the monastery’s website.
Olsson said the monastery remains closed to the public.
“I stand ready to assist Mother Teresa Agnes on her path of reconciliation and healing,” he said in the statement. “Please join me inpraying for the nuns, and the restoration of order and stability to our beloved Arlington Carmel.”
