‘Obsessed with his power’: Acquaintance describes a spiteful Fort Worth Bishop Olson
A woman who said she has known Bishop Michael Olson since he was a young seminarian in the early 1990s said his appointment as bishop has corrupted his mind.
In a transcript entered into evidence in December in a defamation lawsuit against the bishop, Dianne Cluley, 90, of Wichita Falls, spoke about her relationship with Olson and the changes she has seen in him since his appointment by Pope Francis six years ago.
She said she met Olson when he was in his 20s, and began to consider him like a son. Olson had introduced himself to Cluley and her family at a parish picnic in Wichita Falls. From then on, Olson befriended her six sons and regularly hung out at their house. Cluley’s family was heavily involved in the church and lived just a couple blocks away, so they were used to having seminarians around, she said.
Olson, she said, confided in her until she was no longer able to take his phone calls because they became too upsetting.
“All the telephone conversations this past year were totally out of control,” she said. “They were cursing all the time, cursing priests … he became obsessed with his power.”
Olson’s attorney, Michael Anderson, said that the comments by Cluley are “just false and salacious” and that the group of people who have been backing the Rev. Richard Kirkham, who was asked to resign by the bishop, are “taking advantage of an elderly woman.” Olson is at the Vatican for a five-day meeting with 17 other bishops from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
In her deposition and in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Cluley described a man who let power go to his head. She said he demanded love and respect from his flock and removed priests he felt were more beloved than him. She described the anger she often saw in him, the same anger parishioners have described to the Star-Telegram during the past year.
Cluley’s sworn statement was taken in December 2018 as attorneys for Kirkham began to build a defamation lawsuit against the bishop and the Diocese of Fort Worth. The lawsuit, filed in June 2019, is ongoing in Denton County.
Kirkham’s attorneys declined to comment.
Speaking about Cluley’s deposition, Anderson said, “no lawyers for the diocese or Bishop Olson were even invited to attend or invited to cross examine. It’s highly unusual, and I think it just underscores the depths of how low Father Kirkham will go.”
Kirkham’s attorneys have said in letters and interviews that the priest was forced to resign in June 2018. Olson said he asked the priest to resign after Kirkham failed to report knowledge he had of an alleged affair between a Dallas priest and church employee.
Kirkham’s removal sparked an uprising in about 20 parishes around the diocese — which is home to about 1 million worshipers. In November, Canon lawyer Philip Gray sent a petition to the Vatican that asks for Olson’s removal.
Anderson said the timing of Cluley’s deposition is not coincidental.
“It was on the heels of us refusing to settle the defamation lawsuit because the bishop and the diocese have done nothing wrong,” he said.
Cluley said she first told her story during a meeting at her church in Wichita Falls in 2018.
“He ruined their lives,” she said. “They were called by God, that’s why they have these vocations. I’m 90 and I’m not going to go down easy. I’m not going to die and leave this place the way it is. I refuse.”
The bishop’s anger
When Olson became bishop in 2014, one of the first things he did was visit Cluley and her children, she said.
“He said he was a bishop and we were just hugging him and crying, and we were so thrilled for him,” she said. “It was all wonderful. Well then all of the sudden just sitting there with him — and it was almost immediate — he said, ‘Now the first thing I’m gonna to do I’m gonna get rid of the Marianist priests.’”
Nolan Catholic High School was guided by the Society of Mary — or Marianists — from the time it opened in 1961. Olson announced in 2014 that he was changing the leadership of the school, which caused a stir with alumni. However, officials at the time said the shift in management had been looming for years as the number of Marianists dwindled.
When she asked if he would host a reception for them, his response was “hell no,” she said.
Then, she said he told her he was going to close down the 42-year-old Catholic Renewal Center, which was on the high school’s campus. The 2014 closure prompted outcries from longtime supporters.
When she asked Olson why, she said he responded “Well, hell, it’s just a bunch of women in there” and later called the nuns “aging lesbians,” Cluley said, alleging that Olson has anger toward women.
“It was like somebody who was possessed, you know, because this power corrupted him,” she said. “And it started immediately. Maybe that’s the way he always was inside.”
Parishioners who have spoken to the Star-Telegram on the condition of anonymity because they fear Olson have described incidents when the bishop has lost his temper. He once became red-faced and yelled at a parishioner, calling her a “nasty lady” when she asked him why he removed Kirkham, multiple witnesses have said.
Some online posts have criticized Olson for a heavy-handed management style that tolerates no dissension. Olson, in a December 2018 interview with the Star-Telegram, said that is an unfair characterization.
“I’m not a dictator,” Olson said. “I’m not a potentate. People are going to do what they want to do. I just ask them that they worship in peace.”
Removal of priests
Kirkham’s departure from the diocese isn’t the only resignation that parishioners have questioned.
Among the resignations of priests: the Revs. Gary Picou of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Keller, Jeff Poirot of Holy Family in Fort Worth and Isaac Orozco of Holy Angels in Clifton and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Morgan.
People from their parishes have told the Star-Telegram that they believe the priests were forced to resign. Cluley spoke about the removal of some of the priests in her testimony and said the loss of many beloved priests is why she’s came forward.
In one phone call while Olson was on a retreat, Cluley said the bishop talked about how a specific priest “should die and be tortured first.” Cluley didn’t name the priest.
“I was used to the way he cursed priests and the things he said about them,” she said.
“Was that new when he become bishop?” attorney Gretchen Benolken asked.
“Uh-huh,” Cluley said. “Absolutely.”
Olson’s coarse language, including the continued use of god---- made her realize “there’s something that’s been corrupted in this young man,” she said.
In her conversations with Olson about Orozco, Cluley said it was clear the bishop envied the young priest, who had moved to New York.
“He was very intelligent and because all of the seminarians liked him and all the people loved him,” she said, explaining that she heard Olson curse Orozco four or five times.
“The thing about it is these men were called by God, not by the pope or anybody,” she said. “And if you take their vocation away from them, that God had called them to, then that’s the worst thing in the world anybody can do. You couldn’t do anything worse than that as a bishop.”
She said parishioners soon learned not to brag about their priests if they liked them because then Olson would remove them.
“Because he’s jealous of anybody that the people love,” she said.
When the Star-Telegram asked Olson last year if people were allowed to be critical of him, he said, “I think people have a right to be critical. I don’t think people have a right to slander or be destructive or say untrue things. I think people have a right to be happy and a right to be unhappy, and if you are, pray for me, pray for themselves. This is about the salvation of souls ... it’s not a hobby. It’s centered on Christ.”
Asked why parishioners say they fear him, Olson said he doesn’t know.
“I’m decisive, and I’m direct, but I’m not violent,” he said.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 5:38 PM.
