FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — A group of Texas nuns engaged in a yearlong dispute with Catholic Church leadership has been dismissed from religious life and “reverted to the lay state,” according to their Vatican-appointed overseer.
Mother Marie of the Incarnation, who replaced Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach at the behest of the Vatican in April, wrote in a statement posted Oct. 28 on the Fort Worth Diocese’s website that the seven nuns are no longer members of the Order of Discalced Carmelites because they “have reverted to the lay state by their own actions.”
The decision came after the nuns, who live in a monastery on 72 wooded acres in Arlington, Texas, announced they would no longer recognize Mother Marie of the Incarnation as their superior and would join the Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic breakaway group.
In response, the nuns in a statement called their dismissal “a moot point.”
“The Vows we have professed to God cannot be dismissed or taken away,” they added.
It’s the latest dramatic development in a yearlong tussle that’s received international attention.
The nuns have been at odds with Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson since he launched an investigation last year alleging that Gerlach had broken her vow of chastity with a priest. Though Gerlach initially admitted to violating the vow, according to a statement posted on the diocese’s website, she later told Olson she had never met the priest in person and was only guilty of “sexti …