The Escalating Dispute Between the Diocese of Fort Worth and the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Texas

The dispute between the Diocese of Fort Worth and the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, in Arlington, Texas, escalates in intensity, so much so that the priest who came to the monastery to celebrate Sunday mass he had to do it accompanied by a bodyguardalthough in any case, the priest had to turn around because the nuns did not want to attend his religious service, according to the American diocese.

The nuns, Discalced Carmelites, however present the case in a different way, as stated Catholic: “They would have allowed the priest access to the interior, only preventing her bodyguard from entering the convent. The priest then left without saying mass, a spokesman for the diocese said.

The priest, in reality, is the head in which the tense relations between the convent and the Bishop of Fort Worth, Michael Olson, who accuses the superior, Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, of breaking her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the diocese after an investigation that lasted six weeks. “Then he deposed her, with the permission of Rome,” says the same source.

“An immoral and unfair decision”

But far from being intimidated, the Carmelites have stood up to the bishop, filing a civil lawsuit against the diocesan pastor through his lawyer because, according to the complaint, Olson’s action “is unfair and inconceivable in light of moral, canonical and natural law.” “The Mother Superior will appeal this immoral and unfair decision that is not subject to canonical action,” said the lawyer. .

The convent sues the bishop and the Texan diocese for a million dollars under laccused of confiscating his computer, mobile phone and a laptop from the superiorin addition to subjecting the nuns to a prolonged interrogation.

In addition, the defense argues that the convent is a “autonomous religious entity” subject solely to the Vatican and that, therefore, the bishop has no authority over him, for which they accuse Olsen of violating both civil and canon law.

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