The conflict between the Carmelite nuns of Arlington and the bishop of Fort Worth: a timeline

CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2024 / 16:35 pm

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, announced on Monday that the Vatican had issued a decree of suppression to forcibly close the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas. 

For nearly 19 months, a dispute between the bishop of Fort Worth and seven women who are members of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington, Texas, a Latin Mass religious community, has played out in court papers and public statements. 

Olson said the de facto head of the monastery, Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, had admitted to engaging in illicit sexual activity with a priest and that he therefore removed her as prioress, in accord with his proper authority. Gerlach has denied the accusations and has claimed that the bishop has overstepped his rightful authority because he wants to acquire the monastery’s land. The bishop denies that claim.

The following timeline is based on court documents; news stories; public statements on the website of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas; and public statements on the website of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington. 

1958: Discalced Carmelite nuns take up residence in Fort Worth, Texas. 

1984: Discalced Carmelite nuns move to a new monastery (Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity) on a 72-acre wooded property in Arlington, Texas. 

2013: Bishop Michael Olson becomes bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

August 2020: Discalced Carmelite nuns ask permission from the Vatican to join a new association of Carmelites (known as the Discalced Carmelite Association of Christ the King), thus moving from the jurisdiction of a Discalced Carmelites provincial to the bishop of Fort Worth; in October 2020 the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life grants the request.

April 24, 2023: Olson visits the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Arlington, Texas, saying he had gotten a report that the prioress, Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, had “committed sins against the Sixth Commandment and violated her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth”; the bishop takes Gerlach’s computer, iPad, and cellphone, according to subsequent court papers.

May 3, 2023: Gerlach and another nun, Sister Francis Therese, file a state lawsuit in Tarrant County district court in Fort Worth against Olson and the Diocese of Fort Worth, claiming the bishop has abused his power and overstepped his authority and calling his charges of misconduct against Gerlach “patently false and defamatory.” 

May 16, 2023: Olson issues a statement saying that on April 24, 2023, he began a Church investigation of Gerlach after he received a report of misconduct by Gerlach; his statement notes that the Carmelite nuns filed a civil lawsuit against him. 

May 31, 2023: Olson announces that the Vatican has issued a decree appointing him “pontifical commissary” of the Carmelite monastery in Arlington, meaning he is what he calls “the pope’s representative in this matter.” 

June 1, 2023: Olson issues a statement saying he has dismissed Gerlach from the Order of Discalced Carmelites, saying he has found her “guilty of having violated the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue and her vow of chastity”; Gerlach appeals to Rome.

June 14, 2023: Diocese of Fort Worth releases photos that diocesan officials say show marijuana edibles and marijuana paraphernalia at the monastery; the diocese says the photos came from a confidential informant. A lawyer for the nuns suggests the drugs in the photos were staged by the diocese.

June 27, 2023: A lawyer for the Diocese of Fort Worth plays in open court a recording of a conversation between Olson and Gerlach in which Gerlach admits to having had inappropriate telephone contact with a priest, at one point saying: “I made a horrible, horrible mistake,” according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Gerlach has before and since the court proceeding denied allegations of misconduct — a lawyer for Gerlach says she has serious physical ailments and was suffering from the effects of medications designed to control seizures when she spoke with the bishop that day and that she underwent surgery the day after the interview.

June 30, 2023: A judge dismisses the nuns’ lawsuit, saying the court lacks jurisdiction.

Aug. 18, 2023: Gerlach announces that the Carmelite Monastery of Arlington is no longer under the authority of Olson and forbids him from coming onto the property.

Aug. 19, 2023: Olson issues a statement saying that Gerlach may have incurred “latae sententiae excommunication” — which canon law defines as automatic excommunication “upon the commission of an offense” (Canon 1314) — for what he calls her “scandalous and schismatic actions.”

According to the bishop, the statement Gerlach issued the previous day “publicly rejected my authority as diocesan bishop and pontifical commissary.” The bishop’s statement says the other nuns might have incurred the same type of excommunication, “depending on their complicity” in Gerlach’s actions; the bishop declares the monastery “closed to public access.” 

April 18, 2024: Olson announces that Mother Marie of the Incarnation, a Discalced Carmelite who is president of the Discalced Carmelite Association of Christ the King but who does not live at the Carmelite monastery in Arlington, is now the “lawful superior” of the monastery; the announcement is accompanied by a decree from the Vatican dicastery that oversees religious orders.

May 22, 2024: Olson announces that the Vatican has overturned his decree dismissing Gerlach from the Carmelites on the grounds that she did not abuse her authority as head of the monastery because she had no authority over the priest who Olson says took part in illicit sexual activity with Gerlach; the Vatican on April 30 also issues a decree upholding the bishop’s investigation and another decree upholding the bishop’s suspension of Gerlach as prioress. 

Sept. 14, 2024: The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington announce a formal association with the Society of St. Pius X, which will supply a priest for the nuns’ spiritual needs. (The Society of St. Pius X is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic association.) The nuns also announce that they reelected Gerlach as their prioress in August. 

Sept. 17, 2024: Olson announces that the Carmelite nuns’ actions are “scandalous” and “permeated with the odor of schism,” and he warns Catholics not to partake of sacraments at the monastery or give money to the nuns. 

(Story continues below)

Oct. 28, 2024: Olson announces that the prioress he appointed as what he calls the “legitimate superior” of the Arlington monastery, Mother Marie of the Incarnation, has dismissed the seven women of the monastery from the Order of Discalced Carmelites, returning them to lay status. 

Oct. 30, 2024: The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington post a statement on the monastery’s website saying that “any ‘dismissal’ declared by Mother Marie of the Association of Christ the King is a moot point” because of the monastery’s association with the Society of St. Pius X. The nuns say their religious vows were “professed to God” and “cannot be dismissed or taken away.” They also say that they pray for Pope Francis and Olson every day and that “any claim that we have departed from the Catholic faith is ridiculous.”

Oct. 31, 2024: Olson announces that the Society of St. Pius X is “not in full communion or good standing with the Catholic Church” and that sacraments offered by the society under ordinary circumstances are valid but illicit. 

Dec. 2, 2024: Olson announces that the Holy See’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has suppressed the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity as of Nov. 28.