Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), Doctor of the Church and co-founder of the Discalced Carmelites
More than two years after a scandal erupted between a group of secluded Arlington nuns and a Catholic bishop, the Vatican will allow the Fort Worth diocese to establish a new order of nuns.
In a letter to parishioners this month, Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson said the Vatican’s decision “marks a moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church” and that the monastery will be a “place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world.”
The new Discalced Carmelite monastery will be in northern Cooke County outside of Muenster, about 80 miles north of Dallas, on land donated by a member of the church. The diocese has begun raising money to build the monastery, Olson said. Until it is complete, the six nuns and three nuns in training will live at a temporary site in Cooke County.
“This is very much a new chapter for us,” Olson said in an interview this week with The Dallas Morning News. “Our community needs the prayers from a contemplative community of nuns who dedicate their lives to the reparation of sin and sanctification of God’s people.”
Diocese members celebrated the order’s opening this week with a special Mass, one year after its predecessor in Arlington joined the Society of St. Pius X, a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group that is not fully recognized by the church.
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Olson attempted to dismiss Gerlach in 2023, but the nuns refused to recognize the bishop’s authority. In August 2023, Olson warned they could face excommunication if they continued to do so.
In October 2024, the nuns’ Vatican-appointed leader dismissed the nuns from their order and religious life. The nuns called the dismissal ridiculous and egregiously false because they did not recognize the authority of Mother Marie of the Incarnation, who issued the order.
Discalced Carmelite Nuns have lived in Tarrant County since 1958, and until 2023 had little interaction with the diocese. The nuns remain on 72 wooded acres in the Arlington monastery, where they spend their days praying, cooking, cleaning and caring for the grounds. Outside of medical care, they rarely leave the premises.
In Cooke County, the nuns will do the same. Unlike the Arlington order, they do not plan to have a website, Olson said. Instead, they will accept prayer requests by phone at 940-641-5564 or mail: Carmel of Jesus Crucified, P.O. Box 308, Muenster, TX 76252.
See here, here, here, and here for some background. Ginger, who will be back with Dallas roundups in the new year, sent me this story, which I appreciated. I’ve had a soft spot for these nuns all along, but anytime you see a reference to “a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group that is not fully recognized by the church” you know you’ve wandered into some extremely weird (and often really problematic) territory. I can’t say I approve of how the diocese handled this, but it’s probably for the best that there’s a more mainstream convent for this order now. What a ride this was. I wish the displaced Discalced nuns a nice, peaceful, out of the spotlight existence.