Carmelite nuns drop their request for restraining order against Fort Worth bishop

Elizabeth Campbell
·3 min read
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The Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity have dropped their request for a temporary restraining order against Bishop Michael Olson and the National Association of Christ the King.

Asked why the nuns dropped their request, Matthew Bobo, an attorney representing the sisters, said in a text message that he told the court there was no need for the hearing, which had been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Tarrant County district court.

A hearing on the ddiocese’s request to dismiss the case because of a lack of jurisdiction is scheduled for May 23, according to Michael Anderson, an attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth.

“We are asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis that the court does not have jurisdiction to resolve an ecclesiastical matter,” Anderson said in an email to the Star-Telegram.

Bobo said it would be up to the nuns’ canonical adviser whether they appeal an April 18 Vatican decree that placed the nuns under the authority of the National Association of Christ the King. That organization petitioned Rome to have direct oversight and direct responsibility for governance of the Arlington monastery.

The Vatican ruled that the association would have day to day management of the monastery and that Bishop Michael Olson would oversee some events such as the leadership election for the monastery.

Bobo stated in the court filing that the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, Sister Frances Therese, and Sister Joseph Marie sought the order to prevent Olson and the association from having authority over the nuns and the monastery.

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In August 2023, the nuns rejected the bishop’s authority in a dispute over his investigation into reports their prioress, Gerlach, broke her chastity vow with a priest.

In a statement on April 20, the Arlington nuns wrote that accepting the “takeover” would endanger the integrity of the monastery, threaten the vocations of individual nuns and the liturgical and spiritual life as well as the material assets of the monastery.

The dispute between the nuns and Olson played out publicly for months last year, and came to a head in August when Olson threatened Gerlach and other nuns with possible excommunication after they issued a statement barring Olson from the monastery property.

Olson dismissed Gerlach from the order on June 1, 2023, a day after the Vatican gave him the authority to investigate reports that she had violated her chastity vow with a priest. She has denied the allegation and appealed her dismissal to the Vatican.

Gerlach and Sister Francis Therese had sued Olson a month earlier, alleging that the bishop defamed Gerlach, invaded their privacy and stole personal electronic devices during his investigation into reports of Gerlach’s transgressions. A Tarrant County judge dismissed the lawsuit in June, ruling the dispute was a church matter.