The Vatican made a bold move.
A Texas monastery has been officially dissolved by the Vatican, according to a statement from the Bishop of Fort Worth on December 2. This follows a nearly year-long dispute between the nuns of the monastery and Bishop Michael Olson, which began in April 2023. The controversy started when Olson accused Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of violating her chastity vows by engaging in an online romantic relationship with Father Philip Johnson, a former priest from the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina.
This accusation led to a series of legal and religious challenges, with Gerlach and the nuns filing a $1 million lawsuit against Olson and the Diocese of Fort Worth in May 2023. They claimed privacy violations and emotional and physical harm. In response, Olson dismissed Gerlach from religious life, and she later admitted to the violation, stating it occurred twice over the phone. However, Gerlach’s attorney claimed that she was heavily medicated at the time and did not recall making the statement to investigators.
Supporters of the nuns accused Olson of attempting to seize control of the monastery, which led to further disputes. In April 2024, the Vatican took action by placing the monastery under the supervision of the Association of Christ the King, based in the U.S. The nuns, however, resisted this move and filed a lawsuit in Tarrant County, seeking to block the decision. In June 2024, Mother Marie of the Incarnation was appointed as the president of the Association, with full governance rights.
In a twist, Gerlach was reelected as the leader of the nuns in September 2024, despite the diocese’s objections. The nuns also aligned themselves with the Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist Roman Catholic group that had previously split from the Vatican. In response, Olson and Mother Marie declared the election invalid, but the nuns rejected these claims, asserting that they had not abandoned the Catholic faith. On November 28, the Vatican officially declared that the nuns had been dismissed from their religious order, and on November 29, it formally declared the monastery extinct.
In his statement on December 2, Bishop Olson confirmed that the nuns had been dismissed from the Order of Discalced Carmelites and that the monastery had been “suppressed” by the Vatican, effectively ending its existence. Olson further clarified that the Diocese of Fort Worth had never claimed ownership of the property and did not do so now, despite any ongoing public claims by the former nuns.