Texas bishop decrees nun 'guilty of violating her vow of chastity'

2023-06-02

Wheelchair-bound Texas Mother Superior is banished from order of nuns as Fort Worth Bishop finds her GUILTY of ‘violating vow of chastity with a priest’ in decision her lawyer says is ‘immoral and unjust’

Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson issued his decree in a statement on Thursday
Declared Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach guilty of adultery with priest
Ejected her from religious order in which she lived under vows for 25 years

A Catholic bishop in Texas has declared the Mother Superior of a cloistered convent guilty of adultery with a priest, and ejected her from the order of nuns in which she has lived for 25 years under vows.

Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson issued the decree on Thursday night, acting on sweeping powers the Vatican recently granted him over the Discalced Carmelite Nuns, a small religious order that runs a monastery in Arlington.

Olson said that, following an investigation, he found Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach ‘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.’

In the Catholic Church, the Sixth Commandment is ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ and forbids sex outside of marriage. Catholic priests and nuns are forbidden to marry and take vows of celibate chastity.

Gerlach’s attorney Matthew Bobo, who is representing her in a $1 million civil lawsuit against Olson and the diocese, slammed the bishop’s decision as ‘absolutely unjust and unconscionable in the light of moral, canonical and natural law.’

Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson (left) decreed Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach (right) guilty of violating her vow of chastity with a priest and ejected her from her religious order

Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson issued the decree on Thursday night, acting on sweeping powers the Vatican recently granted him over the Discalced Carmelite Nuns

‘Mother Superior will be appealing this immoral and unjust decision that is not subject to canonical action. In addition, the civil lawsuit will continue full speed ahead,’ Bobo added in a statement to DailyMail.com.

Gerlach, 43, has severe chronic heath issues that confine her to a wheelchair and require the use of a feeding tube and daily IV. She has strenuously denied the bishop’s allegations through her attorney.

She joined the Carmelites roughly 25 years ago, after graduating from Ursuline Academy, a Catholic high school in Dallas.

Bobo told DailyMail.com that she will continue to live in the Carmelite’s Arlington convent, the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity, for the next 30 days pending her appeal of Olson’s decision.

Beyond that, her ability to remain in the convent or receive other living assistance would be up to the diocese, the attorney said.

‘Her health is very poor and the stress inflicted upon her by Bishop Olson over the past several weeks is causing additional issues,’ said Bobo. ‘She has a 24-hour caregiver who is another nun who the Bishop has mandated have no communication with her.’

Gerlach’s ejection from the order comes after Olson repeatedly and publicly shared allegations that she had violated her vow of chastity with a priest, who has never been named by the diocese.

Olson’s spokesman did not immediately respond to questions from DailyMail.com on Friday regarding the identity of the priest, and whether he faces an investigation or sanctions.

In a statement on Friday, Gerlach’s attorney Bobo called on Catholic believers to keep the defrocked nun in their prayers.

‘During this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we ask for all the lay faithful to pray for reparation to our Lord’s pierced heart for the Reverend Mother Teresa of Jesus Crucified,’ he said.

‘Her sufferings as a true scapegoat will be lifted up by Our crucified and risen Lord!’

Meanwhile, Olson said Thursday that he would reinstate daily Mass and regular confessions for the nuns in the Arlington monastery, after suspending confessional and restricting communion to Sundays.

Daily Mass for the nuns will resume on June 7, but the dozens of laypersons who used to receive communion at the monastery each morning will remain barred from the services.

‘Given the pending lawsuit, Mass will remain closed to the participation of the lay faithful for the time being. The only Mass intention will be for the restoration of peace and good order of the Monastery,’ the diocese said in a statement.

Olson’s move to eject Gerlach from the Carmelites came a day after the Vatican issued a degree granting him ‘full governing power’ over the order of nuns

Wednesday’s decree was issued by the Catholic Church’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which oversees religious orders

Olson’s move to eject Gerlach from the Carmelites came a day after the Vatican issued a degree granting him ‘full governing power’ over the order of nuns, who typically report directly to the pope.

Wednesday’s decree was issued by the Catholic Church’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which oversees religious orders, including monastics such as monks and nuns.

It names Olson as ‘Pontifical Commissary’ to the Carmelites, installing him as the pope’s representative in matters relating to the nuns.

At the heart of the dispute lies the allegation that Gerlach violated her vow of chastity with a priest, although the specific details of that claim remain shrouded in mystery.

The Diocese of Fort Worth has repeatedly claimed, including in a public statement on Wednesday, that Gerlach admitted to violating her vow of chastity.

But Bobo has slammed that assertion as false, saying that the Mother Superior never admitted to such a violation, and that she is not even aware of the specific nature of the allegation she faces.

‘The bishop just decided to lob this bombshell out there, and for the life of us, we don’t even know what the specifics of the allegation are. But I can absolutely tell you, she’s never had sex with a priest,’ Bobo told DailyMail.com last week.

In a recent report on the case, Catholic news outlet The Pillar shed some light on the mystery, citing sources who said the allegation against Gerlach may stem from vague statements she made in December 2022, while she was heavily medicated following a hospital procedure.

A person close to the matter told the outlet that while Gerlach was ‘in-and-out of lucidity,’ she made tearful, incoherent remarks to the nun who serves as her caregiver and the diocesan vicar general, saying she had committed some sin against the Sixth Commandment.

‘She was crying and upset, but she didn’t give any details about any of this, and we didn’t really know what she was talking about,’ the person said.

‘And sometimes she said that it was a violation against chastity which she committed on the phone. So it didn’t make a whole lot of sense,’ the source added.

The person noted that since Gerlach requires a round-the-clock caregiver for her medical issues, ‘the notion that she committed some secret sexual sin with a priest — even on the phone — doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.’

‘It is much more likely that this whole thing was a hallucination,’ the person said.

Gerlach oversees the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity (above) in Arlington, Texas, which sits on roughly 72 acres owned by the Discalced Carmelite Nuns religious order

Mother Superior made extraordinary allegations in a sworn affidavit last month, accusing Olson of barging into the convent to interrogate nuns and confiscate phones

The saga first emerged in a lawsuit filed by Gerlach and her convent last month in Tarrant Country Court, naming Bishop Olson and the Diocese of Fort Worth as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Olson barged into the monastery in April to investigate Gerlach’s alleged admissions of sexual sins.

‘I was stunned when Bishop Olson for all intents and purposes forced himself onto our peaceful community,’ said Gerlach in a sworn affidavit.

The lawsuit states that the Carmelite nuns ‘are a cloistered Order of women dedicated to a life of contemplative prayer’ who attend Mass each morning, and then gather seven times a day to chant the Liturgy of the Hours.

‘The rest of their day is focused on contemplative prayer, the silent loving person to person relationship with Jesus Christ, a living prayer for the benefit of others,’ the suit notes.

According to the nuns’ lawsuit, Olson first entered the convent on April 24, and brought an unidentified forensic technology specialist who confiscated Gerlach’s personal cellphone, iPad and laptop computer.

The suit notes that the devices were used to run the business of the monastery, and without them the nuns were unable to pay bills or operate financially.

Bobo told DailyMail.com last week that although Gerlach’s devices had been returned, the diocese retains a forensic copy of their hard drives, and demanded their return.

‘The stuff that was on that technology, has their private personal information, and has all the monastery’s financial information, but most importantly, it has their donor list,’ said Bobo.

‘And that is a list that the bishop has been trying to get his hands on since he became bishop,’ he added.

Bobo also noted that the monastery’s roughly 72-acre property in Arlington is owned by the Discalced Carmelite Nuns religious order rather than the diocese.

‘He could arguably have the monastery shut down, and then that piece of property, which is worth about $22 million, could become part of the diocese,’ the attorney said.

Diocese spokesman Pat Svacina denied Bobo’s claims in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying: ‘His accusations are false and unsupported.’

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