Legal and religious disputes between the Arlington Carmelite nuns and Fort Worth Catholic Bishop Michael Olson are no longer pending in civil courts or at the Vatican.
Nuns from the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in south Arlington on Tuesday requested to dismiss a temporary restraining order they filed in April against Olson and an association of Carmelite nuns. Tarrant County Judge Don Cosby granted the request May 22. A request to dismiss the suit by Olson’s attorney was scheduled for a hearing the following day. The nuns’ move followed several Vatican decrees that mostly sided with Olson’s decisions throughout the yearlong saga.
The nuns’ filing to dismiss the lawsuit did not include an explanation for the decision. Matthew Bobo, an attorney representing the nuns on civil matters, said litigation was no longer necessary. The sisters are now “confident that the preservation” of their governance and assets are “secure from any actions” taken by Olson and the Association of Christ the King, Bobo said.
Michael Anderson, an attorney representing Olson and the diocese in civil matters, described the nuns’ case as “frivolous” and said that it did not belong in a civil court.
“The diocese was confident that once again the suit would be dismissed by the court on grounds that this is a church matter, not a civil matter,” a spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth said. “We pray that the sisters of the Carmelite monastery can with sobriety accept the need for spiritual and moral reconciliation with the (Catholic) Church.”
The moves follow a yearlong legal and ecclesiastical battle between the nuns and the bishop. In April 2023, Olson opened an investigation over allegations that the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach violated her chastity vow with a priest, in part by “sexting” him. The Arlington nuns wrote in an April 20 statement that they were awaiting a response from the Vatican on the investigation and their appeals of Olson’s actions.
The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth on Wednesday published four decrees on its website from the Vatican. The Vatican’s responses weighed in on the canonical disputes between the nuns and Olson. In the decrees, the Vatican sided with Olson’s decision to open an investigation at the monastery after placing Gerlach on a leave of absence and supported his warning to the sisters that they could be penalized for “obstruction of the investigation.”
However, one of the Vatican’s decrees overturned Olson’s dismissal of Gerlach from the Carmelite Order.
Olson claimed Gerlach abused her authority as prioress, or head nun, due to “unique privileges” that included access to electronic devices, according to the decree. The Vatican stated that her access to a cellphone and the internet did not constitute “an act of abuse of authority to coerce another person to perform a sexual act.”
“Additionally, Mother Teresa Agnes possessed no real or even imagined authority over her alleged accomplice, a grown man (and ordained cleric), which could have made him subject to Mother Teresa Agnes’ authority as Prioress,” the Vatican wrote.
Matthew Wilson is a professor at Southern Methodist University who specializes in politics and religion. With no civil or ecclesiastical proceedings pending, Wilson said the next steps are for the sisters to elect a new prioress. Gerlach’s term as prioress expired in January 2024.
Reconciling the relationship between the diocese and the monastery is dependent on how the new prioress and the bishop interact, Wilson said.
“It would be enormously helpful if whoever is the new prioress could make some sort of appearance or statement jointly with the bishop to bury the hatchet on both sides,” Wilson said.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org or @marissaygreene. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.