{"id":442612,"date":"2025-12-12T15:33:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442612\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T15:33:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:33:02","slug":"new-carmelite-monastery-to-open-in-fort-worth-diocese-following-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442612\/","title":{"rendered":"New Carmelite monastery to open in Fort Worth diocese following scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"Amira
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

By Amira Abuzeid<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 \/
\n 09:41 am<\/p>\n

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the opening of a new order of Discalced Carmelite nuns after an older one in the diocese lost its canonical status last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Olson announced the news of the opening in a letter on Dec. 2<\/a> in which he said the Vatican\u2019s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gave permission for the new monastery.<\/p>\n

The prelate described it as \u201ca moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with CNA, Olson said there has been \u201ca need in our diocese for prayers, for reparation of sin \u2026 and through adoration and contemplation and meditation, to pray for all of those intentions \u2014 that is the vocation of the new Carmel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olson said that about six months ago he requested that a new order of nuns come to reside in the diocese from the Christ the King Association of Discalced Carmelite Monasteries in the U.S.A.<\/p>\n

After making a formal request for permission from the Holy See in October, he received word in November that the Holy See approved the establishment of the new monastery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nuns are coming from the Carmel in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bishop emphasized that the Carmel \u201cis an autonomous body even though I have supervisory rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the land was \u201cdonated generously by the faithful in the diocese\u201d after he acted as an intermediary between the sisters and parishioners.<\/p>\n

Asked when he believes the monastery, located in a rural part of northern Cooke County about 80 miles north of Dallas, will be completed, he replied: \u201cThat\u2019s in God\u2019s time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the sisters will not have a website \u201cbecause it\u2019s a distraction from their religious life. Social media can have adverse effects on a religious vocation, as we have seen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Olson told CNA he is \u201cvery grateful to the Holy See for this permission, but also to the religious sisters, the nuns who have given of themselves to Christ. It\u2019s a very unique vocation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bishop is encouraging people to be generous with the sisters as they establish their new home in the Fort Worth Diocese: \u201cThey\u2019re in full communion with the Church, are rightly ordered in their Carmelite vocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new page for the Carmelites after scandal<\/p>\n

In 2023, a public scandal<\/a> erupted after Olson began an investigation of an alleged relationship of a sexual nature between the former prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Arlington, Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, and a priest outside the diocese.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gerlach denied the allegation and accused Olson of overstepping his authority while seeking to obtain the nuns\u2019 property located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Olson has denied both claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Story continues below)<\/b><\/p>\n

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The scandal played out in the press through actions taken by the Vatican, lawsuits in civil courts, and through public statements on both sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last December<\/a>, the Vatican issued a decree of suppression<\/a> of the Arlington Carmelite monastery.<\/p>\n

Olson announced the suppression just over a year ago, on Dec. 2, 2024, emphasizing at the time that the women at the monastery \u201care neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the Holy See \u201csuppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August of that year, the nuns posted on their website that they had joined the Society of St. Pius X<\/a>, a group that is in an \u201cirregular\u201d canonical situation<\/a> within the Church.<\/p>\n

\u2018May their vocation bring forth many graces\u2019<\/p>\n

In his most recent letter announcing the new monastery, Olson said it \u201cwill be a place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world. Through prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the Discalced Carmelite nuns will accompany the faithful and intercede for the needs of our communities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask all the faithful of the diocese to join me in prayer for these nuns as they begin this new chapter in their vocation,\u201d the bishop said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMay their vocation bring forth many graces including priestly and religious vocations, holy and happy marriages, and faithful discipleship,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n


\n \"Amira
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Amira Abuzeid is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Amira Abuzeid CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 \/ 09:41 am Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":442613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,204066,17159,204065,7371,7372,51069,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-442612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-carmelite-nuns","10":"tag-catholic-news","11":"tag-diocese-of-fort-worth","12":"tag-fort-worth","13":"tag-fortworth","14":"tag-scandal","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115707331527384847","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}