The priest recognized in a recorded interview as the person with whom a nun from Arlington broke her chastity vow is from North Carolina and just lately frolicked in Montana considering his vocation, based on Catholic officers.
The interview the place the priest was recognized was with the Rev. Mom Teresa Gerlach of the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington. It was performed Tuesday throughout a listening to in a lawsuit Gerlach filed towards Bishop Michael Olson and the Fort Value Catholic Diocese, alleging that Olson defamed her, took info from her private gadgets and invaded her privateness.
In an audio recording performed through the listening to, Gerlach reluctantly advised Olson that the priest’s title is Bernard Marie.
However the Diocese of Raleigh issued an announcement Wednesday figuring out him as Philip Johnson.
In accordance with the assertion, Johnson was “granted go away” from the diocese to function chaplain to a non secular group in 2020 and later joined the Transalpine Redemptorist Monastery in Montana in 2022.
The diocese additionally stated within the assertion that Johnson just lately returned to North Carolina after he resigned from the Redemptorist group, the place he served beneath the chosen title of Father Bernard Marie. Johnson is “not at present exercising” public ministry. “Upon returning to N.C. , Fr. Philip Johnson’s priestly colleges have been restricted by Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama as a precautionary measure till extra readability relating to his standing might be ascertained,” the assertion learn.
In Montana, Chancellor Darren Eultgen, of the Diocese of Nice Falls-Billings, stated throughout an interview with the Star-Telegram that it isn’t uncommon for a priest to decide on to go by a distinct title. “We knew him as Brother Bernard,” Eultgen stated.
Eultgen additionally stated when Johnson “was dwelling on the monastery, he wasn’t in any form of public ministry, and he didn’t say Mass publicly.”
In April of 2022, Johnson got here to the Transalpine Redemptorists, a non secular group of males close to Forsyth, Montana, the place he was considering “a vocation,” based on the assertion from the diocese in Montana.
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Eultgen stated that on April 26, the diocese in Montana acquired a name from Fort Value diocesan officers investigating an incident involving the priest and a “spiritual sister.”
In accordance with an announcement from the diocese in Nice Falls-Billings, on April 27, Bishop Michael Warfel “eliminated the priest’s colleges of ministry.”
Johnson returned to North Carolina on Could 1.
In accordance with testimony throughout Tuesday’s listening to, Gerlach stated the priest contacted the Carmelites in Arlington asking for prayers, and that’s how they met.
The authorized battle between Gerlach and the diocese facilities on whether or not a secular court docket has jurisdiction in issues involving church investigations. The diocese, which can also be conducting a canonical investigation into Gerlach’s actions, argues that courts can’t get entangled in ecclesiastical issues.
Gerlach’s lawsuit states that the diocese and Bishop Olson violated her privateness rights when he took info from digital gadgets and that Olson defamed her by posting details about a personal confidential matter on the diocese site.