UPDATE APRIL 20: The Arlington nuns respond.
Yesterday, the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (DICLSAL) published a decree regarding the Most Holy Trinity monastery of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Arlington, Texas, entrusting them to the governance of “the President and Council of the Carmelite Association of Christ the King in the United States of America.” The Decree is signed by the dicastery’s secretary, Sister Simona Brambilla, MC, and undersecretary, Sister Carmen Ros Nortes, NSC.
Back in June 2023, we published two articles on the controversy between these Carmelites and Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, to whom DICLSAL granted full authority over the monastery and quickly dismissed their superior, prioress Mother Teresa Agnes of Jesus Crucified Gerlach, OCD. Sister Gerlach had admitted to, but later denied, a violation of the sixth commandment. The back-and-forth included a civil lawsuit against the bishop and increasing denunciations against the nuns. The diocese released two photographs of a storage room in the monastery filled with marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and local Catholics — including a well-known local philanthropist — mobilized against the bishop.
The last official update on the standoff between the Carmelite monastery and Bishop Olson was last August, when the nuns wrote an open letter refusing to accept the authority of Bishop Olson, and the bishop threatened them with excommunication in return. Then in January, Texas Monthly published a longform article entitled, “The Bishop Who Picked a Fight With the Wrong Nuns,” presenting the entire controversy from the nuns’ point of view.
DICLSAL wrote letters yesterday to Bishop Olson and to the Arlington Carmel as well. It is worth noting that the two signatories on the letters are both women, as is the monastery’s new major superior. Perhaps this is in response to the accusations last year that the nuns were being ordered around by men.
Also worth noting is that this decree confirms that the Arlington Carmel belongs to the Christ the King Association, which was formed in 2020 and made up of Carmels following the 1990 Carmelite Constitutions. At the time, many articles (from other media outlets) incorrectly stated the Association to which the Arlington nuns belong and the Constitutions they followed. This information was not available on the internet and no officials from the association made a comment about the situation.
The letter to Bishop Olson was sympathetic, noting that the situation caused him “and the faithful of the Diocese of Fort Worth hardship and unwarranted public attention” and thanked him for his “heroic and thankless service to the local church and the Carmel of Arlington as Pontifical commissary.” The dicastery’s letter added, “We are fully aware that the health and longevity of the Monastic community was always your goal, throughout the ordeals of the last year.”
In addition to noting the change in governance, DICLSAL gives Olson its reasons for doing so: “This Dicastery will now intervene to address the absence of governance of the monastery due to both the behavior of the former prioress, the expiration of her office as prioress on January 8, 2024, and the nuns of Carmel’s unlawful choice last August 18, 2023 to remove themselves from your lawful vigilance as their Ordinary.”
In other words, the Vatican is stating that regardless of what happened last year with Mother Agnes Gerlach, her term expired in January. That chapter is over.
The letter to the nuns is the longest of the three, and offers a harsh assessment of their situation, judging the nuns to be in violation of their constitutions and asserting, “this curial office finds that, in the present instance, the Carmel’s ‘genuine autonomy’ is lacking due to a total absence of lawful governance.”
DICLSAL’s letter continues, “Yet, despite this sad state of affairs, this Dicastery is fully convinced that every effort should be made to preserve the spiritual health and longevity of the Arlington Carmelite Monastic community.” The Dicastery explains that the other Carmels in the Christ the King Association were unanimous in their recommendation that the President of the Association of Christ the King take responsibility and leadership over the Arlington Carmel during this period of reconciliation.
The letter asserts “the President of the Association of Christ the King is recognized as the lawful major superior of the monastery and, together with her council, she is to exercise full governance over the Carmelite nuns and Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity.”
The letter ends with an instruction:
Finally, to regularize your relationship with the Bishop of Fort Worth and the local church you are instructed to withdraw and rescind your declaration of August 18, 2023. (See, Declaration of the Reverend Mother Prioress and the chapter of the Carmel of the Most Holy Trinity of Arlington, Texas, at: http://www.carmelnuns.com/).
UPDATE APRIL 20: The Arlington nuns respond.
[Update April 22 — link to letter from Bishop Olson to the faithful of the diocese of Fort Worth.]
Mike Lewis is the founding managing editor of Where Peter Is. He and Jeannie Gaffigan co-host Field Hospital, a U.S. Catholic podcast.
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