ARLINGTON, Texas (LifeSiteNews) – Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson has attested that a Carmelite convent in his diocese has invited censured priests to offer Mass after Olson refused to authorize priests to offer the sacraments as part of the 14-month dispute between the bishop and the convent. 

On July 18, Bishop Olson published a statement on the Fort Worth diocesan website, marking the latest development in the dispute that has been in place since April 2023 between himself and the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity.

Olson wrote that “Reverend Christopher Clay,” a priest of the Diocese of Scranton “who has been prohibited from the exercise of priestly ministry since June 2004 and who has previously been denied permission to exercise priestly ministry in the Diocese of Fort Worth, has celebrated Mass at the Arlington Carmel at the invitation of the former prioress.”

Olson added that another priest had acted similarly. Father Marshall Roberts, “a priest of the Diocese of Scranton without faculties for ministry, has celebrated Mass at the Arlington Carmel at the invitation of the former prioress. He did so without my knowledge and without requesting permission or faculties from me or any official of the Diocese of Fort Worth or from the Diocese of Scranton.”

Clay is described by the Diocese of Scranton as “credibly accused” of abuse. The diocese confirmed that Olson’s description of Clay is accurate, with him having been “removed from ministry in June 2004.” Clay has since been based in the Fort Worth area.

Summary background

For those following the case of the Arlington Carmel (see LifeSite’s full archive here), Olson’s statement comes as simply the latest in a long line of involved and complicated developments. 

The case became increasingly public and involved after emerging into the public sphere in April 2023. The nuns filed a civil suit against Olson due to what was described as his “illegal, unholy, unwarranted, explicit, and systematic assault upon the sanctity and autonomy of the Plaintiff’s and the Sisters.”

Olson retaliated and made the striking move of revealing to the public in May 2023 that he had “received a report in April 2023” that Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Carmel had “committed sins against the Sixth Commandment and violated her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth.”

One day after being appointed as Pontifical Commissary, on June 1, 2023, Olson summarily dismissed Mother Teresa from the Carmelite order, stating that his six-week investigation had deemed her to be guilty of violating the Sixth Commandment with the priest, who was at that time un-named. 

She was given 30 days to appeal the decision with the Vatican, an option to which she availed herself. Olson’s expulsion of Mother Teresa was overturned by the Vatican in May.

Culminating a process of many months, in August 2023 the nuns wrote they “no longer recognize the authority” of Olson, citing the “unprecedented interference, intimidation, aggression, private and public humiliation and spiritual manipulation as the direct result of the attitudes and ambitions of the current Bishop of Fort Worth in respect of our Reverend Mother Prioress, ourselves and of our property.”

Appointing a new superior

As the Pontifical Commissary to the Carmelite convent, Olson was declared by the Vatican to have “full governing powers” over the community. On April 18, Olson announced the Holy See’s formal entrustment of the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity to its overarching Carmelite body – namely, the Association of Christ the King in the United States of America. 

READ: Vatican names new head of Texas Carmel after year-long conflict with Bishop Olson  

According to the Vatican, Mother Marie of the Incarnation – the president of the U.S. Association of Christ the King – would become the “lawful superior” of the Arlington Carmel. 

However, the Arlington Carmel responded, saying that such a decree was “in effect a hostile takeover that we cannot in conscience accept.” 

They added that to accept Mother Marie “would risk the integrity of our monastery as a community, threatening the vocations of individual nuns, our liturgical and spiritual life and the material assets of the monastery. This outside authority could easily disperse us, impose its agenda in respect of our daily observance and dispose of our assets—even of the monastery itself—as it wishes, contrary to our vows and to the intentions of those who founded our community and our benefactors.”

Consequently, they refused to admit Mother Marie to the convent. 

Olson’s July 18 statement notes that it was Mother Marie herself who told him about Fr. Clay offering Mass at the convent, though he does not say who attested that Fr. Roberts had offered Mass there.

The Arlington Carmel declined to comment on the matter, noting, however, that they had no prior notice of Olson’s July 18 statement until alerted to it by LifeSiteNews. 

However, should the bishop’s statement be true, it would not be surprising that the Carmel has sought the sacraments from any priest willing to offer them. As part of the ongoing dispute, Olson has prohibited priests from ministering to the Carmel for nearly a year, a point he reiterated in his latest statement: 

I continue to work with Mother Marie of the Incarnation to restore the sacramental life of the Arlington Carmel. However, until the Sisters accept her appointment as their legitimate Superior, I am unable to grant permission or faculties for the celebration of the sacraments to any priest of the Diocese of Fort Worth or from another Diocese or Religious Institute.

The entirety of the ongoing case has been marked by somewhat unprecedented moves from Olson, particularly with regard to the public revelation of details surrounding his private meeting with Mother Teresa, along with an incredibly speedy expulsion of her from the order.

Observers have also suggested that the official reasons given by Olson and the Vatican in their rulings against the Carmel belie hidden intentions on the part of Olson or CICLSAL, especially given their citation of Vultum Dei and Cor Orans – documents that have been used to suppress blossoming traditional communities. 

Olson has threatened excommunication of the community, although the community have repeatedly affirmed their recognition of the legitimacy of Olson as bishop and Pope Francis as pope while rejecting what they describe as his “abuses” toward them.