The Holy See has suppressed the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, a month after its residents were dismissed from the Carmelite order and religious life. The decree, issued Nov. 28 by the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, stated that the monastery "is extinct."
Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, says Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, the nun at the center of a dispute over allegedly broken vows, may be excommunicated, along with the rest of the nuns at her monastery.
After a diocesan investigation and lawsuits, a community of cloistered Carmelite nuns in Arlington, Texas, said they no longer recognize the authority of Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth.
The lawsuit was dismissed June 30 when a county court in Texas ruled the allegations from the Carmelite monastery involved church matters, not civil law issues.
On June 30, Texas judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Carmelite nuns against Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson. That same day, police announced they had closed their investigation without recommending criminal charges.
In a packed Tarrant County courtroom on June 27, the Catholic Diocese's attorney played an audio recording of a nun explaining to the bishop her relationship with a priest.
Fort Worth bishop takes over a Carmelite monastery and accuses cloistered nun of adultery with a priest. Discalced Carmelite Nuns say the bishop does not have authority over them and call his actions a land grab.
The Holy See has declared Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth to be "pontifical commissary" of the Monastery of Saint Joseph of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns, according to a decree from the dicastery for religious life, dated May 31, 2023 and published on the website of the Diocese of Fort Worth. Olson "will assume his office upon communication" of the decree, it said.
