• A Texas bishop has introduced an ecclesiastical investigation into whether or not a nun broke her chastity vow.
• The nun, and her Sisters, sued the bishop and the Fort Price Diocese, alleging abuse of energy.
• The nuns’ lawyer advised Insider the bishop has ulterior motives and desires to take over the monastery.

A bunch of Texas nuns have sued a bishop and the Fort Price Diocese in a dispute over an allegation that one of many nuns — who’s severely sick and makes use of a wheelchair and a feeding tube — broke her vow of chastity with a priest.

The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington have accused Bishop Michael Olson and the Fort Price Diocese of waging an overzealous investigation into the alleged chastity vow violation, confiscating the nuns’ telephones and private gadgets, “spying” on their texts and even personally displaying up at their monastery to spend hours interrogating the nuns.

In Catholicism, a chastity vow is a promise of celibacy made by nuns and monks. The Diocese publicly introduced its investigation into the chastity vow violation in a Could 16 assertion naming the Reverend Mom Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach.

The priest, who’s accused of participating in sexual acts with the lady, was not named. 

The nuns’ lawyer, Matthew Bobo, advised Insider he believes that Olson and the Fort Price Diocese have ulterior motives in levying such an allegation in opposition to Gerlach. 

“They’re 72 acres in Arlington, Texas, on the Trinity River in the midst of the metroplex,” Bobo mentioned, including that is what he believes the bishop has his eyes on. “It is value $20 million or so. That is what he is making an attempt to do.”

Bobo added that the chastity vow accusation is “insulting,” and mentioned the nun in query has possible solely encountered 4 or 5 males within the final 25 years. 

“They haven’t any proof this occurred. They haven’t any proof she’s admitted to this. It simply did not occur,” Bobo advised Insider, including that Olson “is simply utilizing this as an excuse to abuse his energy.”

In response to Insider’s request for remark, a consultant for the Diocese advised Insider that Gerlach “admitted to violating the Sixth Commandment,” which forbids adultery. The consultant declined to remark additional.

Bobo denied to Insider that Gerlach made such an admission. He mentioned the Diocese has launched no info relating to the alleged violation, comparable to when or the place it might have occurred. Moreover, the nuns mentioned of their courtroom submitting that Olson interrogated Gerlach instantly after she returned from a surgical process, by which she was put underneath common anesthesia, intubated, and given fentanyl.

The nuns have alleged ‘an unlawful, unholy, unwarranted, express, and systemic assault’ by Bishop Michael Olson 

Gerlach mentioned in an affidavit that she is severely sick and requires a central catheter line, feeding tube, and intravenous drip for 10 hours a day. But regardless of her situation, she mentioned Bishop Olson “compelled himself onto our peaceable neighborhood” in late April, interrogated her and different nuns for a number of hours, and “threw a mood tantrum” by which he yelled that the monastery was shut down and no mass can be held.

“Though she was in important ache, underneath the affect of medicines and feeling very weak, she felt compelled to acquiesce and was subjected to extra questioning,” the nuns’ courtroom submitting mentioned. “The Bishop knew she had simply come again from the hospital and had a surgical process.”

Of their lawsuit, the nuns mentioned that due to Olson and the Diocese’s actions, the monastery was not capable of pay payments or financially function as a result of their know-how was confiscated. 

Bobo advised Insider the nuns’ gadgets have since been returned to them — however not earlier than Olson and the Diocese obtained a forensic copy of every thing on the gadgets. He mentioned not solely does Olson now have entry to the nuns’ private, personal, and monetary info, however he has all the non-public details about individuals who contribute financially to the monastery. 

The nuns alleged of their lawsuit that Olson and the Diocese are “abusing their energy, inflicting ethical violence and psychological misery” on the Sisters, and “enterprise an unlawful, unholy, unwarranted, express, and systemic assault.” 

Gerlach’s affidavit mentioned the Discalced Carmelite Nuns spend their days attending mass each morning, gathering seven instances a day to chant the official prayer of the church, specializing in contemplative prayer, cooking, cleansing, and dealing the grounds of the monastery.

The nuns’ lawsuit argued that Olson and the Diocese of Fort Price vastly overstepped their authority.

“We’re not and have by no means been underneath the management of the Bishop of the native Diocese: we reply on to the Pope,” Gerlach’s affidavit mentioned.