Sexting Texas nun defies Vatican orders to leave monastery

The disabled Texas nun caught sexting with a priest is defying Vatican orders to leave the monastery — leading her head bishop to close it to worshippers while threatening to excommunicate the naughty nun and her supporters.

Rev. Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach, 43, was booted from the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington earlier this year after being accused of breaking her vow of chastity last year with Father Bernard Marie.

But Gerlach — who allegedly confessed, but only to sexting — is refusing to leave, with her and her supportive nuns publicly declaring they are now “independent” of Bishop Michael Olson, the head of the Diocese of Fort Worth who investigated under the powers of the Vatican.

“The Chapter takes this opportunity to express its complete confidence in the personal and moral integrity of its Mother Prioress and in her leadership,” the monastery’s Carmelite nuns wrote recently on their site.

“Therefore, because the salvation of our souls is our first duty before Almighty God … we hereby state that, in conscience, we no longer recognize the authority of, and can have no further relations with, the current Bishop of Fort Worth,” they wrote.

Further, they said they “forbid him or any of his officials or representatives to enter our monastery property or to have any contact or relations with the monastery or any of its nuns or novices.”

The next day, Olson responded by saying that the monastery will be closed to the public until “the Arlington Carmel publicly disavows itself of these scandalous and schismatic actions of Mother Teresa Agnes.”

The wheelchair-bound nun had “publicly rejected my authority as diocesan bishop and Pontifical
Commissary,” he wrote, the latter referring to his power as a delegate of the Pope in the matter.

“This has hurt me as a friend and as the bishop because of the deep wound this has cut in our unity as the Diocese of Fort Worth,” the bishop wrote in a public statement.

“Thus, it is with deep sorrow that I must inform the faithful … that Mother Teresa Agnes, thereby, may have incurred upon herself (i.e. by her own schismatic actions) excommunication.

“The other nuns, depending on their complicity in Mother Teresa Agnes’ publicly, scandalous and schismatic actions could possibly have incurred the same … excommunication,” he said.

The nuns replied once more in the astonishing war of words Saturday, accusing Olson of waging “private warfare against us.”

“[We] reiterate that they do not recognize the authority of Bishop Olson over their Monastery, and they refuse to accept any interference by him as Pontifical Commissary, an office conferred on him with contempt for canonical norms and procedures,” they wrote on their site.

They said they “will face with serenity and firmness any unjust canonical sanctions” while answering to “the authority of God.”

Matthew Bobo, an attorney for the nuns, told WFAA-TV that they are upset the monastery has been closed to laity — while also being worried about excommunication.

“This is the only life they know,” Bobo said.

Still, the bishop “is not welcome on the property,” the attorney stressed defiantly.

“We would take steps to have him removed. He sent them a letter and said you have to close the gates and you have to have my permission to have anyone come on property. That is a clear violation of Texas law.”