Others Share Their Allegations Against Father Gregory Plow, TOR

Since Monday's post, several people have reached out and shared their own experiences which I am posting on their behalf below

Since posting the documentation provided by Katie* on Monday of allegations against Father Gregory Plow, TOR, several individuals have reached out with their own alleged experiences. The following are some of the messages that I have received.

I would like to encourage anyone who has information to share to contact the Diocese of Steubenville and Ann Booth, Title IX Coordinator for Franciscan University of Steubenville: abooth@franciscan.edu or (740) 283-4338

1. In 2014, I spent 6 weeks in Ecuador through Franciscan University. It was labeled a mission trip and Spanish immersion program, although Father Plow didn’t speak any Spanish. There were several different assignments, and I was told I would be working at a school for children with special needs. Later, we were informed that since the school day ended at 3, we would leave the school and go help at a parish. The details of that assignment were vague. 

   It turned out we were expected us to do door-to-door evangelization, and I was wildly uncomfortable with this. Most of us weren’t Theology majors and were without Spanish-speaking skills. I didn’t want to participate.

   I went to Father Plow’s office to speak with him. I told him that my parents wouldn’t be comfortable with this and felt it wasn’t safe for me to be knocking on people’s doors like this. That I was uncomfortable, too. 

   Father Plow told me that my parents were holding back and I should do whatever I wanted. He also told me that mission trips are always subject to change, and that if I wanted to be a good missionary and serve God, I would do the door-to-door evangelizing.

   We were sitting in his office which was a small, dark room. I felt trapped. I wasn’t allowed to leave until I agreed to email my parents and assure them that everything was fine and safe. He talked to me for well over an hour about how my parents treated me like a little girl. He stood over me as I wrote an email to them explaining that I was safe and that I was old enough to make my own decisions. 

   My parents responded and said okay if you are safe. I felt sick that I wasn’t allowed to tell them the truth.

   I continued to feel very unsafe doing this door-to-door operation. We were almost entirely girls. During one outing, we were encouraged to approach a group of drunk men. While my speaking skills were not great, I can understand Spanish pretty well, and one of the men was saying pretty sexually explicit things to me. 

   Again, I went to Plow and told him how it felt to be sexually harassed in the street. But he told me, “I’m sorry this happened, but it sounds like you were just uncomfortable, not unsafe.” 

   Additionally, Plow said daily mass each morning at 7 am and told everyone once we arrived that attendance was mandatory. We mostly laughed it off and thought, hey, we’re over 18, you’re not our dad. But Plow decided to count out the exact number of hosts needed if everyone was in attendance. And breakfast was immediately after. So if there were leftovers, he would come around to our tables and demand to know why there were extras and who skipped mass that morning. 

   Later on in the mission trip, one of my cabin mates (she says it’s okay to share this) had a mental health crisis. She was a threat to herself, and her parents decided to come to get her and bring her home for treatment. 

   All of us roommates were upset and confused, and after her parents got her, Plow hosted a meeting and said that she was gone, it was nobody’s business why, but if any of us had come to him sooner and let him know how badly off she was, that she would still be there. He was staring straight at me. 

   We had no psychiatrist with us, so I have no idea what he would have done. I just remember thinking at the time, oh man, was this my fault? I was raised in the mindset that priests have authority and they are right about most things, so could he be right? I carried a lot of guilt. The next day, the two professors who accompanied us on the trip apologized to the group for what he said. 

   When we returned to campus, I thought, no one will take me seriously. I have no documentation. But I did tell the director of mission about Plow’s behavior, and he agreed with me that it was inappropriate.

2. I started seeing Fr. Gregory as my confessor the fall of my Junior year. After a year of trying to buck the system, I spent the summer singing with Bob Rice at the conferences. My bandmates convinced me to try harder to behave and comply with the campus culture. I had previously had a weird confession with Dave Morrier (he gave me a pamphlet and called me a wild stallion) and was looking for spiritual direction as part of my efforts to become more “franny.”

   Everyone talked about how great Father Gregory was and what a "hardcore" confessor he was. If I remember correctly, confessions were on Monday night or something. So I would wait in his line and go to confession with him. He had one of the tiny confessionals in the chapel in CTK. Things weren’t weird at first. One of the first odd moments was in the confessional, I was wearing a skirt and tall boots, and a cardigan. He made a comment about the length of my skirt and looked pointedly at my thighs. It was extremely uncomfortable in such a close space. 

   By the end of the semester, it was my 21st birthday. He knew I had a history of underage drinking. The confession prior to my birthday he told me that “this is when the rubber hits the road” and warned me not to come confess drinking too much next time. The night of my 21st bday, I was leaving Tommy More with my friends and he was in the lobby. He made eye contact with me and stopped me for a moment to remind me not to come back to confession to confess drinking too much. It was so odd that he was even at Tommy More at like 10pm and that he felt like it was okay to basically threaten not to give me absolution if I got drunk at my 21st birthday party. 

   I thank God every day that I went to Austria the next semester and no longer saw him for confession when I returned. I am equally thankful I changed my mind about being compliant to the brainwashing and returned to my path of drunken rebellion. Ironically, a life of drunkenness and parties probably saved me.

3. There were a number of incidents where there was discomfort due to a lack of boundaries or advice that was poorly given without Father Gregory Plow desiring to have the context of my situation; this advice caused a lot of unnecessary harm. But the biggest one for me occurred when Fr. Gregory was my spiritual director (he’d requested to be that for me after I suffered a loss). He also said I needed to go to therapy, which I had already started when I returned to school after the funeral. At the time, I was in an emotionally (and now I’m able to admit) sexually abusive relationship. Fr. Gregory knew and liked my ex (my ex was really charming) because he’d met him around campus and my ex had traveled to Buffalo for our cross-country meet to cheer me on. Fr. Gregory saw the effort my ex had put into getting to Buffalo and affirmed to me how much my ex loved me. 

   There was one time in particular that I went to Fr. Gregory for spiritual direction and confession, which revolved around my ex. For some background, my ex had isolated me from most of my friends; was constantly criticizing me and comparing me to other “holier” girls; and, no matter what I did, I could rarely make him happy. He would pursue me physically, then criticize me when I would say “yes.” If I held my ground, I was rejecting him. If I gave in, I was a slut. My family member had passed only a couple of months before, I had mono, and I was isolated. 

   I came from an extremely dysfunctional family, and I was turning to Fr. Gregory and my therapist for help navigating the panic attacks I was having around my life and especially around my relationship with my ex. I never gave in and “went all the way” with this guy, but we would start kissing and then he would push and push to go further. I would say no repeatedly, and he would manipulate me, guilting me, until I would submit. 

   This particular time that I brought to Fr. Gregory, my ex had groped me. I felt so horrible afterward, I called up Fr. Gregory and went right to confession. I didn’t know how to make sense of what had happened, and I was probably pretty disassociated, but I felt so much shame, and I wanted to make sense of what had happened. I told him what had happened and that it felt “rapey.” I didn’t know what else to call it. But it was one of the few times that I could see that I had said “no” so many times, and I didn’t feel in control of my own body at this point.

   After sharing this in confession, Fr. Gregory immediately chastised me, told me to be super careful about using that word, that I would be ruining a good man’s name (that of my ex), and chastised me for my lack of self-control. He then reminded me of how much my ex loved me. I shame spiraled after that, didn’t mention the incident to anyone else (until I mentioned it years later to my now-husband), and it kept me in the abusive relationship for longer than I would have been otherwise.

   Another time, I was in bed in the dorms after quiet hours had begun. I heard a banging on my door - and I was little more than half dressed, but since I thought I would be opening the door to another girl, I didn’t think I needed to get dressed. I was SO embarrassed to see that it was Father Gregory, who said he was there to surprise me. I don’t remember what we talked about, and I never mentioned this to anyone because I assumed it was my fault for being in the state of undress that I was. 

4. I am an alumnus (Class of 2020) of Franciscan University, and I wish to share my personal experience with Fr. Gregory Plow, TOR. It wasn't a matter of sexual or spiritual abuse, but of gross public humiliation and inappropriate follow-up. Allow me to explain.

   Fr. Plow was the director of the Priestly Discernment Program at FUS from 2016-2019, which coincided with most of my time there. I had applied to the PDP in 12th grade and I was accepted, but I withdrew the summer before my freshman year (fall 2016). That September, when I began having second thoughts, one of the PDP students invited me to come to "formation night," which is their weekly fellowship night with vespers, adoration, and a plenary lecture after. So, I went. The lecture was where things got ugly. 

   Just as Plow was starting the lecture, he noticed me in the back of the room and yelled, "Who are you and why are you here?" Everyone turned around and stared at me. Bewildered, I calmly replied, "My name is Jack*." Fr. Plow quickly came up to me and said, "You should have called or emailed me beforehand, these are closed events! You have to go!" I left, trying not to cry from the embarrassment, while the others in the room laughed at me. Then, he said as I was leaving, "But we hope you come back!" That added insult to injury.

   The next morning, he called my cell phone twice. Neither time did I pick up. After the second call, he left me a voicemail in which he sharply ordered me to respond to his message. (I never called him back.) Minutes later, an email appeared in my university inbox, which he claimed was an "olive branch." In reality, it was one part him excoriating me again for showing up unannounced and one part inviting me to join the PDP "If I feel called to the priesthood."

   I wouldn't be surprised, Jenn, if you will get (or have already gotten) messages from ex-PDP students. Although I don't have first-hand anecdotes, the guys in the PDP had a saying about PDP dropouts: "(Name) got Fr. Gregory-ed out of the program." Now that time has passed, this saying leaves me thinking that he likely spiritually and emotionally abused several 18-, 19-, and 20-year-old men innocently trying to discern their vocation. 

   Do what you will with my story. I hesitated to reach out, but after discussing this with my family, they believe my experience was serious enough to be put out in the open. 

5. I attended Franciscan from the fall of 2016 to spring of 2020. I have had limited interactions with Fr. Gregory but the ones I have had have left a very sour taste in my mouth. During my freshman year at Franciscan, I was dating someone from high school and didn’t really feel like I “fit in” to the Franciscan mold. My ex boyfriend and I were sexually active, I was on birth control and struggling with my conscience a lot. 

   Finally, I decided to go to confession in an attempt to “start over” and clear my conscience. I went to the chapel for confession and chose to go behind a screen for privacy, as I was very embarrassed and ashamed to have to confess my sins after so long. I was randomly placed in a confessional with Fr. Gregory. Immediately I could tell it wasn’t going to be a very friendly confession, Fr. Gregory sounded frustrated with me and my nerves. After confessing that I was sexually active and on birth control, he repeatedly questioned me “you know that you also must confess to using an abortifacient, right?” I was confused and did not understand what he was telling me. He kept on asking me louder and louder each time, clearly getting more and more angry with me for not understanding. 

   I began to cry, already ashamed and now overwhelmed by his aggressive attitude with me. The confessional went quiet for a moment, Fr. Gregory could clearly tell I was crying, then Fr Gregory huffed loudly asking “Are you done?”referring to my crying. I finished confession with my Act of Contrition, Fr. Gregory finished by telling me that I would only be forgiven if I was “truly sorry”, implying that I was not truly sorry. I left the confessional and sat in the lobby of the chapel, still crying and waiting for my friend to finish her confession so we could walk back to our dorm. As I was waiting, Fr. Gregory left his confessional and walked past me to the doors. I will never forget the look he gave me as he passed me by. He looked completely disgusted with me. Like I was unworthy to be at a school like Franciscan after the sins I had confessed. I cried the rest of that night to my friends after telling them what had happened. After this encounter, I avoided going to confession for over a year. I was afraid of ever being made to feel like that again, especially during a sacrament that encourages vulnerability and healing. I know this isn’t anything criminal or sexual, but it’s an experience that I will never ever forget. Thank you so much for reading this. 

6. The number of times I had to walk past Fr. Greg while in a towel or a robe, headed to my dorm room, while he sat on a bed and read bedtime stories to the girls on my wing….
   
   You couldn’t say sh*t. He was a priest and the RAs told me to maybe cover up more when I got out of the shower. This was NEVER during open hours when men were allowed in the girls’ dorm rooms.

7. I value my privacy immensely, but after yesterday’s report about Fr. Gregory Plow, I felt compelled to share some things I’ve thought about for twelve years. I’m trying to write this chronologically with the biggest grievance being the third incident. 

   I attended Franciscan University of Steubenville from 2008-2012 and during that time I ran Cross Country sophomore through senior year. Fr. Gregory was chaplain of the Cross Country team during this time, and because of this, I saw him almost on the daily for practice and meets. Fr. Gregory always struck me as intense. He loved running, was passionate about being the chaplain for the team. But there are a couple incidents that I want to share. 

   First, I lived on second floor Tommy More for a couple semesters, but Fall of 2010 I remember coming out into the hall in my bathrobe and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. At the end of the hall I was shocked to see Fr. Gregory walking past the elevator and I was shocked he wasn’t announcing himself with the classic, “Man in the hall” statement. I ran into the bathroom as quickly as I could and was embarrassed, wondering if he had seen me. I told some of my cross country teammates about this incident, but we laughed it off as poor timing. But his flaunting of the rules left me uneasy. 

   Second, there was an additional incident in the Fall of 2011 where about ten to fifteen cross country girls were in someone’s dorm room in Tommy More with Fr. Gregory. It was evening, the door was closed, and I believe it was Fr. Gregory who was playing the guitar. Sitting at a distance, I remember what struck me was his love of attention, of being the center of this female focus. And it didn’t sit right with me. I thought it was odd that a priest was in a dorm room with a bunch of girls, and he was the only male…but then again, men were technically allowed at that time of day. But then time passed and it became after hours and all the men in the dorm had to leave. We were having a great time joking around and laughing, but then a polite knock came on the door and an RA entered. I don’t remember who she was but I DO remember her looking exasperated but very politely saying, “Fr. Gregory, it’s after hours. You need to leave.” 

   Fr. Gregory was indignant. He said, “I don’t need to leave! I’m a priest! I can stay!” The RA politely asked him again, explained the rules, and Fr. Gregory gave the same response. Others rallied around him, and the RA sighed and closed the door. We continued to have a good time but I was disturbed at his utter disregard for the rules. I continued to be uneasy about him but didn’t tell anyone and I should have.

   Third, in the Fall of 2011, my senior year, I was walking into the JC Williams Center and saw Fr. Gregory talking with some of my fellow cross-country teammates. Fr. Gregory came over to me, greeted me with a loud, “[my first and last name]!” and then quite literally tackled me to the ground. 

   Laying on the ground, I was beyond shocked and don’t remember anyone saying anything after that. I got up and thought, “What the actual hell just happened” and probably dismissed myself from the group. Again, my memory is hazy about the details of who was there besides Fr. Gregory, what time it was, and if anyone said anything besides his initial greeting. I was just quite literally shell-shocked. My memory is clear as a bell though that he literally tackled me to the ground and can still feel how intensely he did it. 

   I don’t remember the details of my leaving, but I DO remember confronting him later on and saying, “Fr. Gregory, remember when you tackled me to the ground? What the heck was that about?” 

   This is when he got a completely weird look in his eyes, put his hands up as if in surrender and backed away from me slowly saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I would never do that. You made that up.”

   Again, I said, “No, you tackled me in the JC Williams Center. I was on the ground. You did that to me, remember?”

   He denied it in the same way and we never talked about it again. But I never trusted him again. I should have reported it, but my younger self was stupid and didn’t know where and how to report anything like this and if I even should because he was a priest. Obviously, things have changed but that man gas-lighted me and tried to become the victim himself. 

8. Not "as bad" as others,  I'm sure. I asked Fr. Plow to do spiritual direction my senior year as I was leading the Little Flowers, graduating with two majors,  had just done an internship in DC, and was dating my now ex-husband.

   I was uncertain about what to do following graduation and asked for guidance. He told me that my other activities didn't matter and that the only reason he would do spiritual direction was to help me discern my vocation to marriage.  I met with him a couple of times; honestly don't recall much other than that it was like: is God calling you to marriage? Yes? Then nothing else really matters.   I had experienced significant ambivalence about dating my boyfriend and even broken up with him the summer prior but that was not addressed.

   I married my ex but couldn't fly Father Plow out for the wedding: we had agreed to have my ex’s spiritual director say the wedding Mass instead. Following the wedding,  I received a nasty email from Plow asking why I hadn't asked him to say the wedding Mass, since he was such a significant part of our vocation.

9. I was a coach for the FUS track and field team. They had no women on staff for them(still don’t to my knowledge) and one of the girls came up to me at practice and said Fr Gregory had called her and the other young woman on the team into his office and admonished them for wearing “ revealing clothing” during practice and workouts and they were “ tempting their brothers in Christ.” I was outraged that he targeted them that way because these girls were very shaken and made to feel ashamed of themselves. I told them what he said was bullshit and it was wrong of him to chastise them. I steered clear of him but didn’t say anything because I was less bold in 2016 than I am now.

10. I just wanted to reiterate what others are saying - that Father Gregory did come across as incredibly self-righteous, and abused his power on multiple occasions, especially with household. I started my freshman year at Franciscan and only heard good things about Fr. Gregory. He was extremely extroverted and kind when I first met him, so I was excited when I went to my first confession with him. I had never had a drink in my life, but I did attend an off-campus party where I got drunk for the first time and felt I needed to repent. I went into the confessional and confessed that sin, and the look on his face I will never forget. He audibly scoffed at me and told me I was weak. I said something like “I guess I’m just bored, I’m not finding much to do on campus”. He looked at me like I had 5 heads - “If you can’t find anything else to do I suggest you get off this campus. You’re lucky you’re still here” I remember him rolling his eyes and basically telling me to hurry up and get out.

    
    It shocked me to my core because of all of the good things I had heard about him. I didn’t expect him to accept my sin, but at least hear me out with empathy. He was the opposite. Very judgmental, very condescending, and not helpful for my faith formation. My husband (then boyfriend) was also scolded by him numerous times for being lazy (???) even though he was in the pre-med program, part of intramural sports and pre-med club, had a job on campus as a sports medicine assistant, and was coordinator of his household. I’m not sure where he got the term lazy… many times Father Plow was caught scolding people for bogus reasons.

11. Here are my thoughts regarding Fr. Gregory Plow’s talk he gave to the Fishers of Men household back in the 2013-2014 semester. I had not made the connection to the David Morrier case until I saw Fr. Gregory’s name on a document released by the Steubenville Police Department regarding that case. After making the connection, I noted the similarities between some of the horrific abuse committed by Dave Morrier and the details of Fr. Gregory’s story. I want to be clear that Fr. Gregory never named the subject of his story and many “possession” or exorcism stories share a similar mythos, but the approximate time and place where this story took place in regards to the Morrier case was too striking to not reach out. 

    Back in the 2013-2014 school year (as this was 10 years ago, I cannot recall with certainty whether that occurred in the fall or spring semester) I was a member of the Fishers of Men Household. During that year, our coordinator began inviting guest speakers for “learning nights” to cover topics such as evangelization, marriage & the family, spiritual warfare, etc. Fr. Gregory was asked to give a presentation on spiritual warfare. I don’t remember much of his talk, but I do remember with great clarity a story that he shared about an exorcism he participated in. 

    As context, spiritual warfare was a very hot topic at the university at this time. David Morrier had recently hosted a talk with a self-proclaimed “exorcism assistant” from the Vatican, who had claimed to have participated in hundreds of exorcisms over the years. Students had begun sharing some of the exorcism prayers labeled “for private use only” between one another, so having Fr. Gregory give a talk about this was poignant at the time. 

    Here is the story Fr. Gregory shared, as I remember it: 

    Fr. Gregory was asked to attend a retreat for either a women’s household or women’s group in the area. I cannot recall if it was a university-sanctioned retreat or someone in the community hosting a private event. Fr. Gregory arrived in the evening to hear confessions and then give benediction during praise and worship. I believe he advised he’d brought a monstrance and had placed it on a makeshift altar at the retreat center. 

    As the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, he returned to a place in the crowd to pray and kneel. It was late, so the attendees of the retreat were in various positions between standing, kneeling, or fully prostrating themselves. One woman stood out to Fr. Gregory. She was across the room lying on the ground, curled up into a ball, her back to the altar, facing the rear of the retreat center. Sensing she was in some sort of pain, Fr. Gregory recalled that he subtly extended a hand toward the woman and began to pray for her, as she seemed to be in distress. 

    As he did so, he believed the woman began to respond to his prayers by rocking back and forth and eventually convulsing and making various noises. He advised that this disrupted the benediction and a few other retreat attendees went over to assist the woman, whose rocking/convulsing began to escalate.

    As I remember it, Fr. Gregory determined that there were some sort of demonic forces at work. He advised a member of the retreat to call for an exorcist. I do not recall for certain if he ordered members of the retreat to restrain the woman, but I am fairly certain that she was restrained in some way and struggled against the restraints. I do not remember who he advised to call at such a late hour, whether it was another friar or a diocesan exorcist. As I understand it, exorcisms are heavily sanctioned and require an evaluation and a bishop’s approval to perform. 

As I remember Fr. Gregory telling it, while they waited for this exorcist, he began sprinkling the woman with holy water, which she had a visible reaction to. The woman began antagonizing the other members of the retreat and Fr. Gregory during this time. This apparently went on for some time, until the exorcist arrived, which Fr. Gregory described like it was a movie: he threw the doors open and swept into the room. The girl had a visible reaction to this exorcist and began taunting him, to which the exorcist said “Shut up,” and poured holy water directly into the woman’s mouth, forcing it closed. 

I do not remember if Fr. Gregory told us more about the physical exorcism itself. But I do recall that, once it was complete, black smoke rushed out of the woman’s mouth and fled the room through an open door or window. I believe I recall him telling us that the woman required additional exorcisms at a later date. 

Sometime later, Fr. Gregory was invited to a conference of exorcists around Pittsburgh, PA, which he attended with David Morrier and other friars. He advised that he was asked to share his story and members of the conference advised him that the dramatic reaction that the woman had to his prayer/laying on of hands, was the demon responding to his priesthood, which, as he recalled, made him feel good/confident in his abilities as a priest.

My impression of this situation at the time was that Fr. Gregory was telling the truth and that he actually believed that he was helping this woman and did the right thing by calling whoever he did to perform the exorcism. He did not name this person and did not give any identifying details as to whether it was a friar or diocesan priest who showed up.

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