My Experience With Father Gregory Plow, TOR

Katie* shares more details regarding her allegations against Father Plow

In my first post in which I shared the documentation of Katie’s* allegations against Father Gregory Plow, TOR, I tried to let the information speak for itself, but I have received some constructive criticism that perhaps in doing so, I created more questions than answers. To that end, I am going to share the conversation that I had with Katie* initially. These are her words to me about her alleged experience with Father Plow, TOR.

I graduated from Franciscan University in 2012. I transferred to campus in 2009, but I didn’t encounter Father Gregory Plow until an Ecuador mission trip that summer. He was the priest assigned as moderator. We left for Ecuador right after classes ended that May, and we were there for about two weeks. I remember thinking that he was one of those priests that everyone wanted to have a relationship with. We did a lot of talking on the trip.

We were in Ecuador over Pentecost, and after that Mass ended, our group was in this chapel, and Father Plow was attempting an exorcism on a young woman. I had never seen something like that before.

That’s when Plow offered to be my spiritual director when I came back. When I had my first spiritual direction with him, he made the boundaries clear. That was my junior year. At first, he outlined clear boundaries regarding our meetings. But they did not last.

That’s when it got inappropriate. There was a guy there that I had a crush on and Plow knew that. He told me, “If you don’t end things with him, you’ll be firing me as your spiritual director. It’s me or him.”

During my junior year, I lived in a dorm that had girls on one side of the dorm, and boys on the other. The common area was co-ed. Plow would just march down the hall and pound on my dorm room. My roommate would say I wasn’t there, and he would demand to know where I was. When she didn’t know, he would call and ask “Where are you right now?”

And when women would come out of the bathroom in just their towels, Plow would have no shame. He just walked down the hall like the rules didn’t apply to him.

Plow would tell me things like that my mom was emotionally abusive. I was only allowed to go to confession to him. 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.

Towards the end of my junior year, he would make comments on my clothing. When I was joining a household, I had to walk around blindfolded. (initiation) Plow came up behind me and grabbed me from behind. The girl with me leading me around said, “Whoa, I think he has a crush on you. That’s really inappropriate what he did.” It was something like what your boyfriend would do. And I thought, “You’re a priest.”

When I went to Mass, my household sisters said he stared at me. One time, I was in the back row, and he called me out from the altar. He got up there and said, “Okay Katie*, can you hear me?”

During the summer between Junior and Senior year, when I stayed and worked the conferences, Plow picked me up one night. It felt like a date, looking back. We went to Walmart - he drove back and parked behind the St. Joseph’s Center (top of campus) and we walked around campus. One of my friends when I told her about this, said, “Well Katie*, that’s a rule that the TORs have, they aren’t allowed to be alone with one female in the car.” He knew that and did it anyway. 

My senior year I lived off-campus. I had gone home a couple of weeks after the conferences were done, and when I came back, the guy I had a crush on helped me move into my apartment. At the end of the night, he kissed me, and that was it. And Father Gregory found out about it and I remember he was in his office and he slammed the door in my face. Later, he asked me if I went to confession for that. It was really weird.

His office at the time had a clear view of the fieldhouse. I would walk past it on my way to work out, and several times during my workouts I would get calls from the front desk saying “Father Gregory wants to see you right now” -it was the weirdest thing. 

One time he wanted to have lunch with me in the friary for spiritual direction, but it felt like a date. 

My senior year he would come to my house off-campus and bang on the door. If I wasn’t there, again he would call to find out where I was. That fall, I would get multiple calls at 11:30/midnight with no caller ID. He told me, “You're the most beautiful girl in the world, if things were different with him they could be different with us,”

Ironically enough, I did a 90-day discernment novena with Sister Therese Marie. Plow was very upset about that and said, “Well you can’t be seeing me anymore for spiritual direction.” Sister was friends with Plow and all these things would come up about him during our talks - she told me, “This needs to be reported. You need to cut off your communications with him, no more spiritual direction.”

After I did that, I was walking on campus, and Plow came up behind me and shoulder-checked me then walked away. 

I had to meet with David Schmiesing. I was so uncomfortable to have to do that, so he came to the Motherhouse of the TORs - it was me, Sister Therese Marie, Schmiesing, and another sister. I started telling him things and he said “Well this isn’t appropriate, this isn’t a good situation.” And Sr. said that when I left, Schmiesing said “You know we know, this is Father Gregory, I’m not surprised by this.” 

I was in my last semester of nursing school. I was so distressed that I started going to counseling with Joe Loizzo and Father Vince Ingleterra who found out about everything that was going on - Fr. Vince was enraged. This was messed up. I initially met with Loizzo. He said, “You’re in emotional distress.” Loizzo asked me to meet with Father Vince to see if this situation was inappropriate. 

So then one of my nursing instructors knew that my grades were falling and pulled me aside. She asked, "What’s going on with you? So I told her. She wanted me to talk to the department head, Carolyn Miller. She met with me and told me, “I just want to let you know we’re going to make sure you graduate, but this needs to go beyond Schmiesing since he’s not doing anything.

Next, Father Richard Davis got ahold of me - I don’t remember if I went to him first, but he left me a voicemail that said, “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but the only way forward is a meeting with Sr. Therese Marie, myself, and Father Gregory. 

Father Nick a nursing instructor also found out about it. Sister Therese Marie said “they” wanted him removed from campus but Plow convinced them to let him stay. Sister Therese Marie recommended a university-affiliated therapist in Ann Arbor - I was a broke college student, and she requested from the university that they pay. They agreed to pay for 10 counseling sessions. Sister said, “That’s an admission of their guilt.”

While I was home on spring break after my nursing instructor had confronted Plow, he called me at home and said, “I thought we agreed to keep this quiet.”

It also went to HR - Brenan Pergi. I remember him asking, “What do you want to see happen here?” And I said, “Well what would you want if this were your daughter?” They wouldn’t release any documentation. Anything they gave was stuff I could’ve told them myself. “You have a lawsuit if you want to sue them.” I was just distressed. I just was shocked to watch the cover-up go on about it. And a few years ago, I wrote a letter to Father Sean Sheridan. I voiced my concerns, this is my history, I just really hope you re-evaluate his position on campus. And I sent it by certified mail. I got a reply back from Brenan Pergi. “I thought we had handled this.” That’s when I thought, “This place is just messed up.”

According to Bishop Monforton of the Diocese of Steubenville, Franciscan University reported to the diocese that Father Plow was “unprofessional” and has “undergone courses.”

To report Title IX violations at Franciscan University, visit here.

For reports of priestly misconduct by Franciscan TORs, contact the order here, and if this occurred on campus, the Diocese of Steubenville here.