Allegations Against Father Gregory Plow, TOR, currently assigned to Franciscan University of Steubenville

Bishop Monforton of the Diocese of Steubenville has decided against suspending Father Plow's faculties despite the following evidence

Because of my reporting of the alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases at Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS), (involving clergy as well as students) I am often contacted by alumni who have experienced issues when reporting abuse to the administration.

Several months ago, I heard from a woman who graduated from FUS in 2012. She wishes to remain anonymous, so for simplicity’s sake, I will refer to her as Katie which is not her actual name.

Katie shared with me her experiences with a priest called Father Gregory Plow. Father Plow is currently listed as the Associate to the Vice President of Franciscan Life at FUS as well as Head Chaplain of Athletics at Franciscan University of Steubenville, although the latter is in question as inside sources report he has been removed from that role and replaced by another TOR on campus.

According to Katie, she met Father Plow while on a mission trip to Ecuador and her first encounter was observing him perform an exorcism on a fellow student. She sought spiritual direction from him, and while he initially provided boundaries to be respected by both parties such as not contacting one another outside of spiritual direction. Katie alleges that Plow violated those boundaries soon after.

Despite seeking counsel, being found credible by said counsel, being supported by her nursing instructors, and reporting Plow to his superior, then-Vice President of Student Life, David Schmiesing, no action was taken.

Father Richard Davis insisted Katie meet face-to-face with Plow, which her then-counselor advised against. Later, after graduating, when Katie attempted to contact the university from a safe distance, she said she received phone calls from Brenan Pergi and Father Plow himself. According to Katie, Pergi told her, “I thought we had let this go” while Father Plow said, “I thought we agreed to keep this quiet.”

According to Katie, Plow told her that she was only allowed to see him for confession. “He pulled me away from my family so much that he encouraged me to stay the summer after my Junior year to work the conferences. That’s when it got inappropriate,” she says.

These are the notes from Katie’s therapies with Joseph Loizzo, then-head of the counseling center, and Father Vincent Inghilterra, stationed at FUS then. (I am aware that since this time, Father Inghilterra was credibly accused of abuse himself, however, his notes are in agreement with Loizzo’s and therefore this should not be an impediment here)

PROGRESS NOTES FROM LOIZZO and INGHILTERRA

Loizzo sent a detailed account of the events to David Schmiesing as well as Human Resources on 4/5/12. Loizzo refers to Father Gregory Plow as emotionally abusive in this letter, noting that he even left actual bruises on Katie. Loizzo says that this is a clearcut case of sexual harassment that wouldn’t be tolerated by any employee, let alone a priest.

LETTER TO STUDENT LIFE AND HUMAN RESOURCES

There is some overlap in information found in the meeting notes from 4/25/12 with David Schmiesing in which Loizzo reiterates that both Katie’s counselors as well as Sister Therese Marie, a local TOR sister, that Father Plow had committed emotional abuse. Additional details are included about alleged incidents in which Plow harassed Katie at her place of work. The notes conclude with a summary of a 5/1/12 phone call with Katie in which she indicates that Father Richard Davis insisted she must meet with Plow otherwise nothing further could be done.

According to Katie, after she left the meeting, Sr. Therese Marie said that “You know, this is Father Gregory. I’m not surprised by this.”

MEETING NOTES

In August, after Katie had graduated and the university decided to pay for her therapy, (receipt here)

Loizzo had a phone conversation with Sr. Therese Marie in August of 2012. His notes confirm that Father Plow contacted Katie to clear the air. Additionally, Sr. Therese Marie felt that Plow viewed himself as the victim, not Katie.

PHONE CALL NOTES

When Katie shared this information with me, I asked her if she had ever considered reporting Father Gregory Plow’s alleged behavior to the Diocese of Steubenville, because they need to provide Plow with his priestly faculties.

On April 21st, at Katie’s request, I provided the above documentation to the Diocese of Steubenville. Although Katie has yet to receive formal confirmation, inside sources have stated that the diocese will not remove Father Gregory Plow’s faculties.

Father Gregory Plow is scheduled to lead a pilgrimage to World Youth Day this July to Lisbon, Portugal. ETA: Although this tour is still listed on the Peter’s Way website, I just confirmed that FUS canceled it recently, citing lack of participation.

In addition to Katie’s encounters with Father Gregory Plow, I have been contacted by several other alumni of Franciscan University of Steubenville regarding his behavior during their time at school. The following is the testimony of a woman who worked as a Resident Advisor in one of the women’s dorms on campus:

When I was an RA, Father Plow would often go into girls' dorm rooms, even late at night, and close the door. Usually, there was more than one girl in there, but it always rubbed me the wrong way because it felt like he was flaunting that he was above the rules. I know I wasn't the only RA to see him doing this. We all rolled our eyes as he came into our dorms and he was often the leading character on our incident reports for being loud, disruptive, and of course for being in rooms with girls. Those reports go to the Resident Directors and Catherine Heck, so I know many people knew about it. 

I met with my resident director, but he said it was fine since Plow was a priest. So I set up a meeting with Catherine Heck and she said, "He's a priest and you aren't. He may have good reasons for doing this that you don't know." 

I didn't know what else to do, so I just kept filing the reports and putting the dorm room numbers on them as well. 

The above testimony was also provided to the Diocese of Steubenville.