Catholic Priest connected to Arlington nuns investigation granted retirement

ARLINGTON — A Catholic priest connected to an investigation into a nun and a violation of her vow of chastity, was granted his retirement this year, in good standing and with full faculties to act as a priest.

The Diocese of Raleigh announced Rev. Philip G. Johnson had requested his retirement for medical reasons. It was effective July 31, with permission to exercise his priestly ministry "as health permits."

The update on Rev. Johnson's standing comes more than a year after he was identified in a Fort Worth courtroom as the person who an Arlington nun may have been "sexting" with in violation of her vows.

Details of the religious dispute ended up being aired in a Fort Worth court room in June of 2023 when Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach and the Carmelite nuns in Arlington sought protection outside the church from an investigation by the Diocese of Fort Worth and Bishop Michael Olson.

In a recording played in court, Gerlach said she had become very close to the priest, who she identified at the time with a religious name, speaking to him over the phone but stressing he had never visited their monastery or seen her in person.

Olson at the time said he had never viewed any messages between the two, or reviewed data from Gerlach's phone, because her admission to a violation was sufficient.

At the time the Diocese of Raleigh said Fr. Johnson's priestly faculties were restricted by his Bishop, until there was more clarity on his status.

In April this year the nuns transferred their wooded property to a new non-profit organization, with the intent of protecting it from any takeover by the diocese, something Olson has repeatedly denied having an interest in.

In September the nuns announced their affiliation with an association of traditionalist priests, rejecting the appointment of a nun from another group of monasteries as their superior. Citing that rejection, the diocese announced last week the nuns had been dismissed from Catholic religious life. The nuns responded with a statement that they pray daily for Olson and the Pope and called any assertion they had departed the Catholic faith as "ridiculous."

The Fort Worth Diocese was not immediately available for a response to the announcement on Fr. Johnson's retirement and standing.