Why should Bishop Michael Olson be removed from the Ft. Worth Diocese?
The following is publicly available information and links to articles about the actions that Bishop Olson has taken throughout the Ft. Worth Diocese.
We encourage you to review the items below and to do you own research.
Pray to Mother Mary and God our Father for guidance when you are considering whether or not you would like to sign a mandate to be represented by Philip Gray who will pursue the removal of Bishop Olson from the Ft. Worth Diocese.
1. Sanctity of Life
- http://kassiblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/texas-bishops-backtrack-on-parish.html
- https://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/texas-catholic-conference-conducts-ugly-unprecedented-attack-on-texas-right-to-life/
- https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2018/02/25/texas-bishops-tell-parishes-cut-ties-pro-life-group/
- https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/texas-bishop-attacking-pro-life-group-allowed-pro-abort-to-speak-on-church
- https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/fort-worth-bishop-spearheaded-attacks-on-tx-right-to-life
2. Banning the Traditional Latin Mass at Fisher More College
3. Removing the Kairos Retreat from Nolan Catholic High School
- The Kairos retreat was abruptly ended at Nolan Catholic Highschool. The students created a petition on change.org to ask Bishop Olson to reconsider. They gathered over 1,500 signatures. The Kairos retreat was not reinstated. There are some claims (unproven) in the Petition for Apostolic Investigation that some of the vocal supporters of this petition were forced out of the high school school.
Selection of quotes from some who signed the petition on change.org to continue the Kairos retreat at Nolan Catholic:
4. San Mateo Church
- https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/longtime-fw-catholic-church-could-be-demolished/354015490
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/as-catholics-fight-bishop-michael-olson-this-church-has-limited-plans-to-reopen/ar-AADTGAJ?srcref=rss
- https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article222736495.html
- https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article222736495.html
5. Father Richard Kirkham - Saint Martin de Porres
We encourage you to read the full timeline of events found here on the FRK Advocates webstie. There is too much to add to this page. Below are highlights regarding Fr. Richard Kirkham’s treatment by Bishop Olson.
- Father Richard Kirkham was forced to resign when about to report another priest for improper behavior. (click for details)
- Fr. Kirkham was then ordered to go to St. Luke’s Institute. According to this article, St. Luke’s is sometimes used by bishops as a punishment to their priests.
In an “alarmingly similar pattern,” the bishop sends the priest to the psychiatric facility for an evaluation after some “dust up” in the parish, according to Fr. Zuhlsdorf, a priest who resides in the Diocese of Madison.
After two or three weeks, the priest is released, with the clinic assuring him all is fine, but then he’s summoned to see his bishop who tells him the institute has evaluated him “and it is always about the same” with “narcissism and borderline bi-polar,” wrote the priest-blogger.
The priest is then pressured to go back for treatment. He is told it will last “for three months or so,” but when he arrives, his cell phone is taken away, as is his shaving kit, the staff “start pumping him full of drugs and monitoring/controlling email,” and he is told it will be six months, Zuhlsdorf asserted.
- At some point during the week, Father Richard realizes why he is really at St. Luke’s and checks himself out to return to his home. He gets back and discovers the locks have been changed and all of his possessions are locked inside his house (the rectory). He is threatened with arrest if he is to attempt to gain entry to recover any of his possessions.
Do these sound like the actions of a loving shepherd??
JUNE 30, 2018
…THREE DAYS LATER
- On June 30, Bishop Olson celebrated Mass at St. Martin de Porres and read a prepared statement in which he states that he cannot comment further on Father Richard’s case because of the ‘ethics prevent him from commenting more directly on the situation…‘
“Thus, the current issue is an internal Canonical and spiritual matter between a priest and his bishop, but it is also similar to a matter between an employee and his employer. The ethics of both prevent me from commenting more directly on his situation. I assure you that I am aware that this causes confusion, fear, and even scandal among you, the faithful.”
– Bishop Michael Olson, addressing parishioners of Saint Martin de Porres, June 30, 2018
- ONLY THREE DAYS LATER, there is a story run in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram featuring an in-depth interview with Bishop Olson, in which he shares several scandalous details in the case of Fr. Kirkham. The paper claims that Bishop Olson even provided them a copy of Father Kirkham’s letter to the other priest and they include several snippets of it in the article.
What changed from Bishop Olson’s statement to the laity of St. Martin de Porres just three days earlier?
What happened to ‘an internal canonical and spiritual matter‘?
What happened to the ‘ethics‘ which prevented him from commenting more directly on the situation?
How do these not apply when speaking to the media?
- Members of FRK Advocates launched a petition seeking the return of Fr. Richard Kirkham as the pastor of St. Martin de Porres. They gathered over 600 signatures (physical signatures and on-line signatures).
- Bishop Olson rejected the petition and leaders of the FRK Advocates claim that the bishop would not even agree to meet with them to discuss the matter further. Click here to see the response from Bishop Olson.
6. Petition of an Apostolic Visitation
- The FRK Advocates launched an on-line petition in which they asked the Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio, for an Apostolic Investigation into the Ft. Worth Diocese – over 1,500 people have signed this petition.
- The comments by those who signed the petition reveal that the problems are across the diocese and not just limited to one or two parishes.
- Below are a selected comments from this petition from those who signed. These statements were made by individual signers and we are not able to prove or disprove their validity. We encourage you to read all of the comments by clicking here. (*NOTE: We have corrected obvious spelling errors of the original comments to make them easier to read/understand.)
“A handful of such dissatisfied people…”
- In his pastoral letter, Bishop Olson refers to the people who had signed the petition for Apostolic Investigation as “a handful of such dissatisfied people identifying themselves as supporters of Father Richard Kirkham.“
- Analysis of the comments of the petition actually shows that a rather diverse group of people from across the diocese signed the petition for other reasons in addition to the treatment of Father Richard Kirkham. This shows that there are several parishes who are suffering under the leadership of Bishop Olson and there are more than just a ‘handful’ to be so casually dismissed.
- See the charts below for a representation of who signed the petition and the reasons for which they signed. *These charts were last updated on 12/12/18.
7. Father Gary Picou and Fr. Jeff Poirot Resignations
-But around the time of the move, Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson instructed Father Jeff not to brew beer anymore, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous because she is a parishioner in the diocese. Poirot confirmed he had been told to stop brewing, but wouldn’t comment much further, other than saying, “It was a pretty short conversation. [Olson] holds all the cards in that relationship.” -Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
8. Confirmation Mass - All Saints Parish (June 27, 2019)
As reported by parishioners of All Saints Parish in Ft. Worth:
- Bishop Michael Olson arrived 47 minutes late.
- He was accompanied by two uniformed police officers and two ‘under-cover police officers’.
- The two uniformed officers escorted Bishop Olson into All Saints and then took up positions on either side of the nave in full view of all the parishioners.
- At the Bishop’s direction, he identified certain parishioners in front of everyone and had those particular parishioners followed as if they were ‘under surveillance’. These parishioners who were ‘under surveillance’ have reported to us that they had done nothing to threaten Bishop Olson and were at a loss as to why they were treated this way.
Imagine if it was your child who had to experience their Confirmation in this environment…
9. Other Information that is not Publicly Available
There are several other reasons that Bishop Michael Olson should be removed from the Ft. Worth Diocese, but they are too sensitive to be shared publicly. Our intent is to have Bishop Olson removed without further damaging our beloved Church. At this point, we feel that exposing additional sensitive information that is not already publicly available would cause more harm to the Church, which is not our objective. We seek the removal of Bishop Michael Olson and the restoration of the Ft. Worth Diocese. We believe that this will lead to the ultimate goal of the salvation of more souls.
- If you have personal experience/examples of why you feel that Bishop Olson should be removed, we encourage you to contact Philip Gray so that he can add that information to his petition as he asks for Rome to remove him from our diocese.
- If you fear backlash from the bishop for providing evidence, (member of the clergy, diocesan employee, ministry volunteer, etc.) there is a way to provide evidence anonymously. Philip Gray can arrange for this by giving you anonymity when he shares your experiences/evidence with Rome.
- Click here to see Philip Gray’s contact information.
10. Closing and demolition of Notre Dame Catholic School in Wichita Falls (2021)
Notre Dame Catholic School was founded in 1904 with a rich history in Catholic Tradition.
In 2021, near the end of the school year, Bishop Olson announced the school was closing due to static enrollment, ability to generate revenue, and financial deficits at the school.
Instead of a large public push for enrollment and fundraising to make necessary repairs for the school, the school with over 100 years of history was demolished and the land sold.
After announcing the closing of the school, there was an effort to appeal the closing to Rome with the assistance of a canon lawyer. There were multiple meetings and a Procurator was chosen from the group who was gathering mandates in order to have a canon lawyer represent all members to Rome – this Procurator had gathered several hundred mandates.
After several weeks in his role, the Procurator abruptly resigned his position and destroyed all mandates gathered thus far (several hundred). This severely crippling the efforts of the group to save Notre Dame High School. What caused this person’s sudden change of heart?
Since the closing of Notre Dame school, a new independent Catholic high school, Chesterton Academy, has opened. How is this possible, if the so-called studies that the Ft. Worth Diocese provided on Notre Dame High School claimed there was not a sufficient demand for Catholic School in the area? Why was there not a push by the Diocese to save a school with such a rich history?
11. The case of the Discalced Carmelites of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, TX (2023)
Bishop Olson publicly accuses Mother Teresa Agnes of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, TX of breaking her vow of chastity and that he has launched an investigation.
During his investigation, he reportedly questioned the accused nun after a surgery, which she was still heavily medicated on fentanyl and other medications.
Sometime during the bishop’s ‘investigation’, the nuns filed a civil lawsuit against Bishop Olson and the Ft. Worth Diocese. This was after Bishop Olson had confiscated a laptop and cell phone that the nuns used for for daily operations to keep the monetary running.
Seemingly in retribution for the lawsuit, Bishop Olson withheld daily Mass and regular confessions from the monastery. According to an article from the Pillar, in the letter, addressed to Sr. Therese Sharp of the Carmelite monastery, Olson said he is “respectfully informing” the sisters that since there is no canonical right or obligation for the sisters to attend daily Mass except “when it can be conveniently done,” or to have their confessions heard beyond the canonical minimum requirement of once a year, it is his determination that “at the present moment, daily Mass and Confessions cannot be conveniently provided for the Monastery. This is because you and Mother Teresa Agnes (Gerlach) of Jesus Crucified, O.C.D., have lodged a civil lawsuit, together with a request for a protection order, against me and the Diocese of Fort Worth. Withholding sacraments and the Eucharist as a punishment certainly seems like the gravest of matters.
In another article from Catholic News Agency, it is claimed that the nun in question had her choice for canon representation rejected by Bishop Olson. Olson rejected FOUR of her choices and, apparently, appointed his own choice for Canon Lawyer, Michael J. Podhajsky who has already begun filing paperwork for Mother Teresa Agnes without her consent.
In another recent story, Bishop Olson sent a priest to celebrate Sunday Mass at the monastery on June 4 accompanied by an ARMED guard. The nuns welcomed the priest into the monastery, but not the security guard. The priest LEFT without celebrating Sunday Mass for the nuns.
Why is Bishop Olson acting in such a manner towards this community of cloistered nuns?
Why did Bishop Olson publicly named the nun in question and her alleged sin instead of providing pastoral care?
Why has the alleged priest involved in this controversy not named in the same manner as Mother Teresa Agnes?
Why did the Bishop Olson choose to withhold daily Mass and regular confessions from the cloistered nuns?
Why did Bishop Olson choose to dismiss Mother Teresa Agnes from religious life instead of seeking her repentance?
Why is Bishop Olson sending security guards to accompany priests to the monastery? Is this a an effort to intimidate these cloistered nuns into dropping the lawsuit?
The Global Sisters Report writes and article on June 9, “Allegations of adultery and abuse of power embroil Texas bishop, Carmelite monastery in complex scandal” that raises some very poignant question about the Canonical process and how it appears to have not been followed by Bishop Olson.
