FORT WORTH, Texas — Testimony was heard Tuesday in Tarrant County court from Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson and other religious figures in a civil case between the Diocese of Fort Worth and an Arlington monastery.
During the hearing, which came following a postponement from last week's scheduled start, audio was played of an alleged April 24 conversation between Olson and Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach.
The civil suit was initially filed by Gerlach's monastery, with the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns questioning the Diocese's authority over the cloister after Olson began investigating into Gerlach allegedly breaking her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Fort Worth diocese.
In the audio played in court, Gerlach herself allegedly tells Olson the priest she engaged with isn't from the local diocese, and that whatever happened that caused her to break her vow happened both in person and in over-the-phone interactions.
"A priest is obliged to live his promises," Olson reportedly to Gerlach said in the recording. "I need to put you on administrative leave."
In the audio, Gerlach reportedly called the incident a "horrible mistake" and apologized for it.
It is unclear if Gerlach knew she was being recorded at the time.
"I was not in my right mind and I would never do anything like this," Gerlach reportedly said in that same recording.
Olson then reportedly ordered the initiation of his investigation into Gerlach and the monastery, and told the reverend mother to take her meals in guest quarters. He also allegedly told her she may participate in holy eucharist but was prohibited from sitting in the prioress chair. She was also, per the recording, prohibited from using her cell phone.
"You're going to have to surrender your phone or computer use," Olson allegedly told Gerlach on the tape.
The suit filed by the nuns alleges that Olson took those pieces of technology from the nuns without the proper authority.
But Olson reportedly told Gerlach, authoritatively, that the state of the whole Carmel was at stake due to her actions.
In his own Tuesday testimony, Olson said he had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the monastery -- something the initial lawsuit disputed -- by virtue of their constitution as well as by canon law 615.
Canon law 615 states "[a]n autonomous monastery which does not have another major superior besides its own moderator and is not associated to another institute of religious in such a way that the superior of the latter possesses true power over such a monastery as determined by the constitutions is entrusted to the special vigilance of the diocesan bishop according to the norm of law. "
According to this, Olson testified, he had authority to do canonical and ecclesiastical investigations -- a belief seemingly reinforced by an alleged papal decree shared with the media by the diocese, which Olson then used to dismiss the reverend mother from her post at the monastery earlier this month.
Michael Anderson, the attorney representing Olson, argued that the civil courts did not have jurisdiction over the case and argued the lawsuit be dismissed because the matter deals with the church and not the state of Texas.
"This thing is bound up in ecclesiastical matters," Anderson said.
Matthew Bobo, the attorney representing Gerlach and the monastery in the civil case (Arlington Police have also said they are investigating possible criminal wrongdoings relating to the dispute), argued that the hearing's proceedings should stick to jurisdictional concerns and said that anything related to Gerlach breaking her vow is irrelevant.
Father Jonathan Charles Wallis, the Vicar General for the Diocese of Fort Worth and the "right-hand man" of Olson, testified that he had known Gerlach since 2007, and that she had disclosed to him her breaking of her vow on Dec. 22, 2022.
Wallis testified that Gerlach's "words were clear" in that admission. He also said he spoke to her during Christmas Eve mass and that "she shared that Sister Francis Therese called her a whore."
Gerlach, sources within the monastery told WFAA, suffers from a gastro-intestinal illness. The initial lawsuit filed by the monastery added that she reportedly lives with a PICC line and feeding tube 24 hours a day and is hooked to an IV drip 10 hours a day. Therese serves as her primary caregiver.
Wallis additionally testified that Gerlach allegedly told her the calls with the priest she broke her vow with were consensual, that she believed she was falling in love with him and that she believed she had ruined her vocation by doing so.
Olson testified that he started the investigation after Wallis said he told him about the affair in April, having assumed Gerlach would bring it to his attention first.
When asked what proof he has that Gerlach broke her vow, Wallis said he had none -- only what she had told him.
After the dispute between Olson and Gerlach started gaining local, regional and even national media attention, Olson issued a public statement asking for prayer and denying he had anything but sincere intentions in his investigations into improprieties at the monastery.
Others in the community, including members of the family that donated the land to the Carmelite nuns in Arlington, believe he does have ulterior motives in his efforts against the monastery, including taking control of its land.