Nuns at an Arlington-based monastery have accused Bishop Michael Olson of "an ugly attempt to seize control of our governance, finances and life."

"We are not things to be traded or given away in backroom deals," the nuns wrote in a four-page response to the decree posted to their website Saturday afternoon.

As the Vatican tries to settle a chaotic yearlong dispute between a Carmelite monastery and Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson, the nuns at the center of the controversy announced they will defy a Vatican decree that delegates their governance to an outside religious association.

Arlington nuns at the center of a vicious dispute with the Fort Worth bishop have rejected a Vatican decree to place them under new authority, saying it amounts to a hostile takeover.

The legal battle over who has authority over a small group of cloistered Carmelite nuns and their property is once again escalating after the sisters filed for a restraining order Monday against Bishop Michael Olson,