Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: CBS News Texas/YouTubeWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA).Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, filed new theft and defamation charges Friday against Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth.The nuns new charges were filed in a district court for Tarrant County, Texas, the day after Olson dismissed the monastery s prioress, Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, from religious life on the grounds that she had a sexual affair with an unnamed priest.In a Thursday decree, Olson announced he had found Gerlach, prioress of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, "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."The new charges levied by the monastery are in addition to a lawsuit filed on May 3 that seeks $1 million in civil damages and asks the court to bloc
The case of the Carmelite nuns in Fort Worth, Texas, has been a head-scratching one since the moment it made the papers about a week ago. It had all the elements of a sensational story – and a salacious one, to boot – even before the Vatican intervention, but very little is known for certain.
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.