FORT WORTH, Texas (OSV News) -- The bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, shared new details in a June 11 video about his recent investigation into the superior of a monastery of Discalced Carmelites, alleging the nun admitted to consensual sexual misconduct with a priest to the diocese's vicar general as well as to a fellow nun.
"This very sad matter is an internal pastoral matter," Bishop Michael F. Olson, 56, said in an eight-minute video posted on the Diocese of Fort Worth's YouTube channel, during which he denied several claims alleging wrongdoing related to his investigation at the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, which is located in his diocese.
"It has hurt me deeply because I love the sisters and the Arlington Carmel very much," he said. "I have known the sisters for over 30 years, and I have prayed with them and I have relied on their prayers."
In the video statement to the diocese's Catholics, Bishop Olson said he wanted to clarify aspects of what he called "a matter that is currently causing all of us much pain, confusion and heartache."
"This is a church matter. This is a pastoral matter. This is a spiritual matter," he said. "Others have attempted to draw me into addressing this matter in the inappropriate venues of civil court and also in both social media and the mainstream media, and I will not do so."
He said others "have asserted baseless and false claims into the public mind, causing confusion."
The conflict between the bishop and the Carmelite nuns began when the bishop visited the monastery several times in late April with three others, including the diocese's chancellor and the diocese's safe environment officer, to interview the sisters as part of an investigation under canon law, the law governing the church. During that time, he took several electronic communications devices from the monastery. In early May, the sisters filed a civil suit for the devices' return, alleging the bishop overstepped the bounds of his authority.
On May 16, the bishop responded to the lawsuit with a statement that he was investigating Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes of Jesus Crucified Gerlach, 43, for committing "sins against the sixth commandment" and violating her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the diocese.
The diocese also returned the communications devices to the sisters, but retained a copy of their data.
On May 31, a Vatican department that oversees religious life matters named Bishop Olson the community's "commissary" responsible for its governance, and a statement from the diocese reiterated the allegations against the nun. The next day, Bishop Olson announced his canonical investigation was complete; he found Mother Teresa Agnes guilty and dismissed her from the Carmelite order. Mother Teresa Agnes added defamation to the civil lawsuit the next day. She also is appealing the outcome of the diocese's canonical investigation.
On June 7, the Arlington Police Department confirmed it had opened its own investigation into Bishop Olson's investigation. The diocese responded by releasing photos of cannabis-related products they said were taken at the monastery, which the diocese said had also been shared with law enforcement.
Matthew Bobo, the civil attorney representing Mother Teresa Agnes, and the Carmelite nuns, has repeatedly said she denies the sexual misconduct allegations and denies the alleged admissions to them. He has called on Bishop Olson to state the specifics of the allegation.
"A violation of the sixth commandment could mean many different specific things, but the Bishop has again publicly defamed Mother Superior without providing specific details," Bobo said in his June 12 statement. "What is the alleged sin?"
Bishop Olson said in the June 11 video that Mother Teresa Agnes had told the diocese's vicar general, Father Jonathan Wallis, as well as Sister Francis Therese of the monastery, "that she had broken her vow of chastity with a priest not from the Diocese of Fort Worth" and "the transgression was consensual."
"She voluntarily made these admissions on four different dates with clarity and consistency, but without naming the priest," Bishop Olson said. "To be clear, she made these admissions outside of the sacrament of confession."
The Fort Worth Diocese's communications director clarified for OSV News in a June 12 email that the nun initiated the conversation and it did not take place in the context of spiritual direction, which carries the expectation of confidentiality.
In court documents, Mother Teresa Agnes has described herself as "in extremely poor physical health," with "a peripherally inserted central catheter ('PICC') line, feeding tube and require(ing) an intravenous ('IV') drip 10 hours a day." She said Sister Francis Therese is her "full-time primary caregiver who provides me with medical attention," but claimed the bishop, as part of his investigation, forbade the two nuns' communication.
Bishop Olson said Sister Francis Therese was present April 24 when he personally spoke with Mother Teresa Agnes about the allegation, and the prioress "admitted now for the fifth time, with clarity and freely, that she had broken her vow of chastity with a priest." She also named the priest, he said.
Bishop Olson noted this interview took place the day before the prioress' April 25 surgery; he emphasized she was not under the influence of anesthesia during the admission, and claims to the contrary are false.
Bishop Olson also said the monastery's electronic devices and donor list "belong to the monastery," not individual nuns, "who are voluntarily bound to the vow of poverty." He said that the items taken in the investigation were "requested calmly and given freely by Mother Teresa Agnes for the purposes of the internal inquiry." He said they were copied under a "framework" agreed upon by "canonical counsel" for the diocese and Mother Teresa Agnes.
Bobo in his June 12 statement called the bishop's video part of an "egregious attack" on Mother Teresa Agnes and the community.
“The fact that this Shepherd and Pastor of the flock of 1 million Catholics in Fort Worth feels obligated to defame the Reverend Mother publicly yet again with alleged sins that she confessed to another priest -- but not in the sacrament of Penance he alleges -- is beyond pale!” he stated.
Prior to this most recent statement, Bobo told OSV News that Mother Teresa Agnes did not consider the canon lawyer the diocese selected for her to be her counsel, and that the bishop has rejected three canon lawyers she sought to retain. In a public statement shared with OSV News June 5, Michael Podhajsky, the Colorado-based canon lawyer retained for the nun by the diocese, said he performed his duties to serve as Mother Teresa Agnes' advocate "professionally and objectively" with a "thorough and robust defense."
In the video, Bishop Olson also denied spying on the sisters, as the original May 3 lawsuit over the taken property alleged.
The priest allegedly involved has not been named publicly. Bishop Olson also said in the video neither he nor the Fort Worth Diocese have covered up the priest's "alleged wrongdoing."
Bishop Olson explained that he and his diocesan safe environment official have contacted the priest's superior, the bishop of the diocese in which the priest was ministering, and "the priest's own bishop." He informed each of them of the alleged violation and investigation.
"The superior informed me that the priest, on the advice of his own canonical counsel, refused to participate in an investigation, and that the priest conveyed to him that he would neither confirm nor deny his involvement. The priest's bishop has told me that the priest is not currently assigned, and that he has restricted the priest's faculties," Bishop Olson said. "I am aware of no further investigation of the priest in this matter as alleged by Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach."
Bishop Olson said that "individuals who are closely associated with the monastery" came to the diocese with "information and evidence about illegal drug activity," and the diocese turned that over to police. "Claims that the Diocese of Fort Worth or I, as its bishop, planted these drugs are false and baseless," he said.
Bishop Olson was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fort Worth in 1994 and was ordained its bishop in 2014.
The Discalced Carmelites trace their founding to St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross in 1562, and have been in the Diocese of Fort Worth since 1958. The Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity includes eight sisters and two novices.
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