Fort Worth Hysterics and the Lying Bishop

For those of you who may be unaware, in recent months; the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas has been embroiled in legal wrangling with the Carmelite Sisters of Arlington, Texas,  over purported accusations of broken vows.   The aforementioned Bishop has leveled allegations that the mother superior of the Carmel violated her vows of Chastity and the sixth commandment (thou shalt not commit adultery) with a priest.  A very serious accusation it would be, and one that should be handled seriously; if not for one simple fact in the case: the entirety of the case leveled against this poor, sick nun, is based on the one-sided accusations of the Bishop's own diocesan vicar.  He claims that the Reverend Mother told him (outside of confession, else he would NEVER spread it, yeah right) on multiple occasions that she had violated the vow and even on one occasion thought she might be pregnant; despite the recording of their examination of her revealing that the priest in question had never even met her in person.   Oh yes, let us address the audio recording of the supposed examination: in court, and subsequently released in full (supposedly) to the media, this audio recording allegedly records the events of the Bishop's examination of the Sister; where he tells her what she is accused of and that she is guilty.  Not that he is looking into the case or wants her side of the story, but that she IS guilty.  Another interesting thing to note, is that the Sister in question suffers multiple serious health conditions, and was in hospital for a medical procedure and under the influence of medications when she was examined.  Did she admit to violating her vows? Yes.  Should such a confession made under duress and the influence of medication be taken seriously? NO.   Quite simply, Bishop Olson knew the Sister was strong-willed, so he chose to go after her at the one moment he knew that he could "get her", and that was when she was recovering from a Medical Procedure.

All of this aside, we will consider it equally possible that she did and did not do what she is accused of; the Bishop's actions in this case violate all sense of Christian Charity as well as Canon Law.  He based his entire "investigation" off of the gossip of his own right hand man, and did not follow any form of proper protocol or procedure in how he claims to rectify the situation.  Strictly speaking, though a Carmelite monastery may be in the territorial boundaries of a diocese; they are not answerable to the bishop of the diocese, but to the superiors of their own order (i.e. the superior general).  Bishop Olson left the Carmelite superiors out of the entire proceedings.  It is the superiors of the order and the monastery itself who are charged with punishing monks or nuns who violate the rules of the order and with installing or removing the  superiors of specific monasteries.  There is no provision in the structure of the religious Order which provides for a simple diocesan bishop to intrude into a monastery and remove a reverend mother whom he dislikes or thinks is bad.  Bishop Olson has violated multiple principles in order to gain control over the Carmel in Arlington; which begs the question as to WHY. 

Olson is known for being money hungry and abusive, never ceasing to bully his clergy and close down viable parishes so he can sell off the property to fill his coffers.  The Carmelite monastery sits on a large tract of land in Arlington, Texas; and is worth a massive amount of money.  In my eyes and the eyes of serious minded people who know how Bishop Olson is: he wants control of the property so he can close it down and seize/ sell it.   Bishop Olson is a crook who has dragged a bride of Christ and a brother priest through the mud so he can get more money and more power over the faithful.   And I close my observations with a quote from Shakespeare's "Richard III" which seems tailor made to this pompous windbag of a bishop-        "And thus I clothe my naked villainy. With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil."