You really can’t make this stuff up.
As anyone who follows the news in the DFW area knows, for the past several months, Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, has been involved in a very public conflict with Reverend Teresa Gerlach, Mother Superior of a group of cloistered Carmelite nuns in Arlington, Texas. And for a production with a fully Catholic cast, the details (as we know them) are, well, pretty salacious. For example:
… Bishop Olson says Gerlach violated her vow of chastity with a priest from a different Diocese, asserting that she admitted the behavior.
… Mother Superior Gerlach denies the accusations, saying that when interviewed, she was under the effects of anesthesia from surgery.
… Olson ordered that daily Mass and Confessions for the cloistered nuns be suspended.
… Gerlach, who is disabled, accused the Bishop of seizing all her electronic devices which she uses to communicate.
… The Diocese released photos of what is described as a collection of various drugs, including marijuana, at the Carmelite monastery.
… The Mother Superior maintains that those photographs were staged by Diocesan staff.
Whew! If Grace Metalious were still with us and contemplating a sequel to “Peyton Place,” this debacle would seem worthy of a chapter!
But, wait a minute! Though the name of Mother Superior Gerlach has been widely circulated in the media (and on the Diocese’s web page), the name of the priest allegedly involved in this event remains unknown. How can that be?
Admittedly, we do not know the intimate details of the allegation but it would seem that, if true, that priest would have violated his promise of celibacy. And yet he remains anonymous, refusing to confirm or deny that any inappropriate behavior occurred.
Sadly, the Catholic Church has a long and sordid history of concealing the identities of predator priests and then transferring them, but this current outrage takes things to a different place. Frankly stated, if the accused in this matter was a priest instead of a nun, it would come as no surprise to learn that the entire sorry event – like so many past cases of sexual misconduct – had been quietly swept under the carpet.
One thing we know for certain is that when it comes to matters of the flesh, the Catholic Church will get it wrong every time.
DanBonBooks 