Global Courant
The priest identified in a taped interview as the man with whom an Arlington nun broke her vow of chastity, who is from North Carolina and recently spent time in Montana pondering his vocation, according to Catholic officials.
The interview identifying the priest was with Reverend Mother Teresa Gerlach of the Carmelite Convent of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington. It was played Tuesday at a hearing in a lawsuit brought by Gerlach against Bishop Michael Olson and the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth alleging that Olson defamed her, took information from her personal devices and violated her privacy.
In an audio recording played during the hearing, Gerlach reluctantly told Olson that the priest’s name is Bernard Marie.
But the Diocese of Raleigh issued a statement on Wednesday identifying him as Philip Johnson.
According to the statement, Johnson was granted “leave” from the diocese in 2020 to serve as a religious community chaplain and later joined the Transalpine Redemptorist Monastery in Montana in 2022.
The diocese also said in the statement that Johnson recently returned to North Carolina after resigning from the Redemptorist community, where he served under the elected name of Father Bernard Marie. Johnson does not currently exercise any public ministry. “Upon returning to NC, Fr. Philip Johnson’s priestly powers have been restricted by Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama as a precautionary measure until further clarification of his status can be obtained,” the statement said.
In Montana, Chancellor Darren Eultgen, of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, said during an interview with the Star-Telegram that it is not uncommon for a priest to choose to use a different name. “We knew him as Brother Bernard,” Eultgen said.
Eultgen also said that when Johnson “lived at the convent, he held no public ministry of any kind and he did not say mass in public”.
In April 2022, Johnson came to the Transalpine Redemptorists, a religious community of men near Forsyth, Montana, where he contemplated “a calling,” according to the Montana diocese’s statement.
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Eultgen said the Montana diocese received a call on April 26 from Fort Worth diocesan officials investigating an incident involving the priest and a “religious sister.”
According to a statement from the Great Falls-Billings diocese, Bishop Michael Warfel “relieved the priest of his powers” on April 27.
Johnson returned to North Carolina on May 1.
According to testimony at Tuesday’s hearing, Gerlach said the priest contacted the Carmelites in Arlington asking for prayers, which is how they met.
The legal battle between Gerlach and the diocese revolves around the question of whether a secular court has jurisdiction in matters of ecclesiastical investigation. The diocese, which is also conducting a canonical investigation into Gerlach’s actions, argues that judges should not interfere in church matters.
Gerlach’s lawsuit says the diocese and Bishop Olson violated her privacy rights when he took information from electronic devices and that Olson defamed her by posting information about a confidential private matter on the diocese’s website.
