Sister Plante's Downfall

Where It All Began

During the 1970's, Sister Plante was the Principal of St. Mary's Parochial School in Winchester, Massachusetts, where she was respected and well-liked by the families whose children attended her school. Among those families was that of General John S. Ross and his wife Elaine. Their son Michael attended the school. General Ross is a retired officer of the United States Marine Corps. Due to the sensitive nature of his work while in the service, and the even more sensitive and highly classified work he continues to do for the United States government, the General uses the pseudonym of Ross in all public circumstances to protect his family. (This fact will become very important later in this story.) "Ross" is an acronym for Reserve Officer Strategic Services, and was assigned to the General by the military as a pseudonym in 1969. The Ross family still maintains a home in Winchester, Massachusetts, as well as other homes in the United States and abroad.

Sister Plante's career as an educator eventually led to her leaving her position in Winchester for other administrative posts. By 1994, she had been employed for ten years as Associate Superintendent of Elementary Schools for the Fall River Diocese in Massachusetts. Her professional record up to that time was unblemished, and she holds a doctorate in Education. Because of her warm relationships with the students of St. Mary's Parochial School, Sister Plante stayed in contact with some families there, including the Ross family. She maintained a close friendship with General and Elaine Ross, but she had not seen Michael in person since his days as an elementary school student.

Michael

Michael Ross matured into a deeply troubled young man. After a three-month period of service in the Marine Corps, he grew his hair long and cherished aspirations of becoming a rock musician. However, Michael suffered from chronic depression, and this led to his becoming a frequent caller to the suicide intervention hotline of the Samaritans of Fall River/New Bedford Inc. Although his parents sought other help for Michael, he seemed to see the Samaritans as his only lifeline. He continued to call the Fall River hotline, and other Samaritans hotlines, regularly for more than four years. Apparently--based on public statements the Samaritans/FRNB have made--the Samaritans regarded Michael as something of a nuisance caller, a young man who needed attention more than intervention. According to the Samaritans/FRNB, several Samaritans chapters eventually banished Michael from their hotlines, claiming that he became abusive to their volunteers. The Samaritans of Fall River/New Bedford, however, continued to accept Michael's calls.

Despite their dubious attitude toward this client, the Samaritans and their "befriending" techniques seemed to help Michael during his blackest moments. For at least four years, Elaine Ross sent the Samaritans/FRNB anonymous donations of money to show her appreciation for their program. She became increasingly concerned when some of her donations, in the form of traveler's checks, money orders or bank checks made out to the Samaritans/FRNB organization, were neither cashed nor returned to her. (Samaritans/FRNB attorney James Franchek later publicly displayed bank checks totaling $2,050 that the Samaritans/FRNB refused to either cash or return to Mrs. Ross.) Among other things, the Samaritans/FRNB claimed that Mrs. Ross's checks bore the name of a "fictitious" company.

In early 1992, the Rosses as a couple arranged to present the Samaritans/FRNB with a specially designed and engraved plaque to show their appreciation for the Samaritans/FRNB's patience in dealing with Michael. The plaque's text was composed by a friend of the family who was also a retired Marine Corps officer, and included the names of General John S. and Elaine Ross. It was presented on February 8, 1992, by Helen Miranda, a long-time Community Services Director and staff member for the Greater New Bedford United Way in Bristol County. The Board of Directors accepted this plaque with apparent pleasure and honor, and according to Barbara Mackowski, displayed it in their offices.

In May of 1993, Michael Ross attempted to kill himself by hanging. Although his life was saved, he suffered irreversible brain damage from asphyxiation. The highly classified work that General Ross performed for the government required that his real name be kept out of the news media and as low profile as possible. Local emergency assistance was not notified. Instead, Michael's father rushed his son to an area facility, from where he was emergency airlifted by military medical transport to a civilian hospital in North Carolina. (Military and veterans' hospitals would not accept Michael for treatment.) There he remained on full life support (including a respirator), drifting in and out of a coma for more than a year. He died in 1994, never having reached his thirtieth birthday. His father has stated that the last person Michael spoke to, by telephone, was Sister Plante.

Michael's Book

Michael was a gifted poet, with an interest in the occult. Not surprisingly, his outlook on life was very bleak. After his suicide attempt, Sister Plante suggested to Elaine Ross that she select some of Michael's poems in sequence and send them to counselors, psychologists and other people who dealt professionally with suicidal patients. Sister Plante felt that the poems gave insight into the feelings and thoughts of those who are in despair, and might assist others in being helped. Mrs. Ross sent some poems to a few schools and received positive feedback from those who read them. In 1994, Mrs. Ross thought of binding some of the poetry material into book form and sending it to the Samaritans/FRNB. She hoped that the volunteers and administrators might be interested in reading these poignant expressions of one of their long-time regular clients. Michael had sometimes read his poems to the hotline staff over the phone.

Elaine Ross chose a selection of poems and made some drawings and other illustrations to accompany them, including an unlabelled photograph of a rock star that Michael admired. A family friend created more illustrations for the poems using images from Tarot cards, choosing cards whose meanings mirrored that of various poems. Tarot cards date back to the Middle Ages, and their pictures are rich with psychological and cultural archetypes. The cards also honestly reflected Michael's own occult interests. Sister Plante had never seen Tarot cards before, but she understood that the cards are considered "white magic" by the Roman Catholic Church, and their use is discouraged, but not forbidden. The Church does not consider these cards to be "evil" or "black magic". This point will become important later on. Sister Plante edited the poems and prepared the final manuscript using the accompanying illustrations exactly as provided to her.

The poetry book was never commercially published for profit. Three copies were made by a hand bookbinder in Freetown, Massachusetts. In March of 1994, Sister Plante sent one copy of the book to Mrs. Ellie Leite, then Executive Director of the Fall River/New Bedford Samaritans. Sister Plante and Mrs. Ross both hoped that the book might help alleviate some of the concerns which the Samaritans/FRNB had about the Ross family at that time. The other two copies were sent to Elaine Ross, and eventually were given to attorneys.

The Praise Campaign for the Samaritans of Fall River/New Bedford

Despite her own crushing personal tragedy, Elaine Ross wished to honor the Samaritans/FRNB for befriending Michael and supporting him for the past four years. In May of 1993, she and a group of supporters, including Edward J. Florino of the Veterans Services Department of Medford, Massachusetts, family friend Yvonne George, and the Rosses' personal secretary Sheila Gilmartin organized a "praise campaign" for the Fall River Samaritans. Letters of commendation were requested from numerous legislators and public figures, including Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank, Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and President Clinton. Plaques recognizing the agency's service to the community were made up, and special gifts, such as a portrait of Cardinal Bernard Law, were donated. In addition, Mrs. Ross and her supporters collected over $27,000 in individual donations to be given anonymously to the Samaritans of Fall River/New Bedford, Inc. in memory of Michael. When the donations were ready, a presentation ceremony was planned by the Veterans. Edward J. Florino contacted Mrs. Leite to arrange a time for the presentation. Other donations were made by various people on an individual basis and mailed to the Samaritans/FRNB separately.

The Samaritans/FRNB reacted to this flood of praise and funds with suspicion and antagonism. All of the money was rejected, along with the letters, plaques and other gifts, and Mrs. Leite refused to allow the presentation ceremony. The Samaritans/FRNB at first stated that they would not accept donations from anyone who was receiving their services. The Samaritans/FRNB operate under the auspices of the United Way, and their policies state that all callers and families of callers are guaranteed absolute confidentiality. This means that connections between clients and donors who wished to remain anonymous shouldn't even have been drawn. Other Massachusetts chapters of the Samaritans state that they will accept donations made anonymously. The Samaritans/FRNB also claimed that it seemed "bizarre" for someone to donate money to a suicide-prevention agency in memorial to a person who had attempted suicide. They did not suggest what other sort of agency would be the logical recipient of such a memorium. Their fellow agency, The Samaritans of New York, Inc., states that it "welcomes donations from individuals, corporations and foundations, including in-kind donations, matching grants and donations placed in memorial or to honor someone."

The reaction of the Samaritans of Fall River/New Bedford to the praise campaign puzzled the Rosses and the campaign organizers. They were left in the intensely embarrassing position of having commissioned dozens of letters of recognition and collected thousands of dollars in donations that were now being thrown back in their faces with no reasonable explanation. The harder they tried to get the Samaritans/FRNB to clarify their concerns, however, the more aggressively defensive and hostile the Samaritans/FRNB became. It seemed completely illogical that an organization so heavily dependent on donations for its funding, and with an annual operating budget of only $40,000, would reject nearly $30,000 in donations. As the disagreement continued, the Samaritans/FRNB began to openly accuse the praise campaign organizers of being "criminals" and of operating some sort of "mail fraud". Personal checks were returned to donors, such as Sgt. David Andrews, by Samaritans/FRNB Board members who interrogated the donors about the identity of the Rosses and suggested that the donations had been solicited by "impostors." But the Samaritans/FRNB would never go into explicit detail regarding just why they suspected the Rosses and their praise campaign.

Among the trivial points they did offer to substantiate their vague accusations was the claim that the letters of commendation from local politicians were forgeries. The envelopes, they insisted, were all typed by the same individual, who always used an idiosyncratic spelling of the abbreviation "st.". This was true, as far as the envelopes went--the letters were being collected by the praise campaign organizers and forwarded to the Samaritans/FRNB. One person was responsible for coordinating the letters and addressing the final envelopes. But each letter was written on official letterhead and signed personally by the legislator or politician whose name appeared at the top. As the various individuals learned that the authenticity of their letters was being questioned, many of them sent second letters, personally signed on official letterhead, verifying that their commendations were authentic. Other participants in the praise campaign wrote letters to verify that they had held fund-raising events for the Rosses and the money being contributed was of legal and honest origin. But if the original letters had been forged, according to the Samaritans/FRNB, then so could the verifications. It remains unknown why the Samaritans/FRNB believed that anyone would steal official letterhead from more than a dozen individual legislative offices (some of them in Washington, D.C.), type or print out letters on as many entirely different typewriters or printers, and then forge official signatures in order to create a fictional praise campaign.

The Rosses and the organizers of the praise campaign had to face their many contributors (including President Clinton) with bright red faces and no way to explain the insulting rejection of the money and commendations. All the money that had been individually donated to Mrs. Ross to make up the $27,000 had to be returned, and the Samaritans/FRNB themselves returned some personal checks they had been sent. The praise campaign organizers were determined to get a full explanation from the Samaritans/FRNB. The Samaritans/FRNB, on the other hand, demonstrating little less than sheer paranoia about this "fake" praise campaign and "shady" money, were just as determined to rebuff the Ross supporters as violently as possible. To them, as Ellie Leite wrote to Bishop O'Malley, this was the most "frightening" issue in the agency's ten-year history. No one was willing to say, however, why the Ross praise campaign was so threatening to the Samaritans/FRNB, or what they thought was behind it. Furthermore, despite the public accusations of fraud, swindling, chicanery and possibly worse crimes, not once did the Samaritans/FRNB ever report the praise campaign organizers to any authority or regulatory office for investigation, or turn over any evidence for such criminal activity. They simply assumed an aggressively defensive posture and ordered the Ross supporters to shut up and leave them alone. The irrational emotions on the Samaritans/FRNB side, particularly, made the tense situation a potential explosion just looking for a scapegoat. Into this booby-trap, entirely unawares, Sister Plante was about to step.

Sister Plante is Asked to Help

On July 7, 1993, Sister Plante accepted $600 from Yvonne George that had been raised in Michael's name at a fundraiser held at the Islamic Center of New England. She deposited it into her Sister of Mercy bank account, and wrote a check on that account for the full amount of $600 to the Samaritans of Fall River/New Bedford, Inc. She sent the check with a cover letter explaining its origins. The check was returned to her.

In August of 1993, Sister Plante met with Mrs. Leite in Sister Plante's office in the Department of Education building in Fall River. Mrs. Leite spoke openly about her contact with Michael and Mrs. Ross, how badly she felt about Michael's suicide attempt, and how she felt glad that the Samaritans/FRNB had been able to help him as long as they did. She stated that she would "keep Michael in her prayers."

On September 9, 1993, however, Mrs. Leite again met with Sister Plante in her office, accompanied by Barbara Mackowski, then the agency's Assistant Director. Sister Plante was surprised to see Mrs. Mackowski, but Mrs. Leite asserted that Mrs. Mackowski "knew everything that went on" at the Samaritans/FRNB center. Mrs. Leite apparently wanted a witness present at the meeting. Both women were extremely angry and barely able to control themselves. They showed Sister Plante some of the letters of commendation they were receiving and asked questions about the similarity of the envelopes and other concerns. Barbara Mackowski repeatedly lost her temper during the discussion and was quieted down by Mrs. Leite. Sister Plante was concerned about the letters she was shown, and promised Mrs. Leite that she would investigate and find out what was going on. However, Sister Plante felt that the two Samaritans/FRNB representatives believed that she knew more about the situation than she was admitting, and that she was lying to them when she expressed ignorance of the entire praise campaign. To Sister Plante, it seemed obvious that Mrs. Leite thought she was in collusion with the praise campaigners for reasons unknown. Following this meeting, Sister Plante questioned the praise campaign organizers about the issues Mrs. Leite and Mrs. Mackowski had raised, and obtained new letters to verify the authenticity of each letter of commendation. These letters, with Sister Plante's explanations, were sent to the Samaritans/FRNB, but no response was ever returned.

Altogether, Sister Plante sent five courteous and sympathetic letters to the Samaritans/FRNB about the praise campaign and the Samaritans/FRNB's concerns, along with the verification letters from politicians and legislators. She never received a reply in writing to any of her letters, or any acknowledgement whatsoever of the other materials and her efforts at follow-up to the meeting with Mrs. Leite and Mrs. Mackowski.

Trouble Brewing

The Samaritans of Fall River/New Bedford were more than merely antagonistic toward mediation: they were actively threatened by Sister Plante's involvement. They called upon their lawyer, Attorney Peter L. Paull Jr., to contact Sister Plante. A three-page letter addressed to Sister Plante and dated September 30, 1993, typed on Atty. Paull's office letterhead but unsigned, somehow was faxed to the office of Father Richard Beaulieu, Director of Education for the Fall River Diocese and Sister Plante's professional supervisor. This letter accused Sister Plante of being a conduit for the Ross family and included threats of legal action against Sister Plante. Strangely, Sister Plante was not confronted with this letter until much later. Atty. Paull then claimed the letter was a "rough draft" that was never intended to be sent. No one knows how this "draft" arrived on the desk of Father Beaulieu. A very different letter dated October 5, 1993, was sent to Sister Plante via certified mail by Atty. Paull. This letter "politely" asked Sister Plante to have no further contact with the Samaritans/FRNB. It remains unclear what legal justification the Samaritans/FRNB had for making this request, given that so many issues remained unresolved.

The Explosive Confrontation

On June 15, 1994, a meeting was arranged by Mrs. Susan Lyman, founder and at that time Vice Chairwoman of the New England Division of the American Suicide Foundation. Prior to this meeting, Mrs. Lyman sympathized with the Samaritans/FRNB, but was willing to act as a neutral mediator. The meeting was held at the office of Attorney Peter L. Paull Jr. in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was intended as a final attempt for Sister Plante, and others who were interested in settling the disagreements, to meet face to face with some of the board members from the Samaritans/FRNB. Present were:

• Sister Plante,
• Yvonne George and Edward J. Florino, who coordinated the praise campaign for Mrs. Ross,
• Sheila Gilmartin, General Ross' personal secretary,
• Mrs. Lyman,
• Pamela Pollock, then President of the Board of Directors for the Samaritans/FRNB, and Assistant Director of the New Bedford YWCA,
• Peter L. Paull Jr., Attorney for the Samaritans/FRNB and also a member of the Board,
• Attorney Ann Denardis, a member of the Board,
• Mrs. Ellie Leite, the Executive Director,
• Barbara Mackowski, the Assistant Director,
• and a male volunteer.

The Samaritans/FRNB had a video camera set up and requested that the group allow the meeting to be taped. Susan Lyman and Sister Plante refused to permit this, since the Samaritans/FRNB informed her that the Ross supporters would not be allowed to have an unedited copy of the tape. The Samaritans/FRNB also asked Sister Plante and other persons present to provide proof of identity, including photo ID and social security numbers. There was no explanation for these requests. The meeting started on a note of distrust and antagonism and rapidly deteriorated from there.

Mrs. Leite began the meeting by accosting Susan Lyman and saying that she was not going to answer any questions about money. "Don't you ask me about those checks," she told Mrs. Lyman fiercely. This was a striking limitation to place on a meeting that had been assembled primarily to resolve suspicions and questions concerning money. Mrs. Leite stated that all the uncashed checks from Mrs. Ross were "under her desk blotter" and that she did not intend to return any of them to the Rosses without knowing who they really were. The meeting continued under increasing tension until, according to Sister Plante, Mrs. Leite suddenly stood up from the table with a dramatic finger-pointing gesture and began to wildly harangue and accuse all of the supporters of the Rosses who were present, claiming that they were involved in "criminal activities" or "with criminal elements." She called Susan Lyman a "liar", and stated that Sister Plante was a disgrace as a nun and should be ashamed of herself. Mrs. Lyman later said of Mrs. Leite, "she was absolutely out of control."

This outburst shocked the Ross supporters, who had attended the meeting in hope of resolving a misunderstanding. Mrs. Leite showed the meeting attendees a confidential letter that had been sent to Congressman Peter Blute by Mr. Florino requesting his help in resolving the issues between the praise campaign organizers and the Samaritans/FRNB. This letter had apparently been intercepted by Congressman Blute's Aide, Louis Cabral, and given by him to the Samaritans/FRNB, without Congressman Blute ever seeing it. Mrs. Leite then displayed the copy of Michael's poetry book that had been sent to her by Sister Plante. She ended the meeting by throwing the book of poems on the table and threatening to go to Bishop O'Malley and complain about Sister Plante's involvement with the Rosses and the poetry book's contents. Sister Plante, who had sent Mrs. Leite the book with honest and humble intentions, had no idea that Mrs. Leite would react in this fashion. Apparently, Mrs. Leite believed:

• that Sister Plante had written the poems herself, based on the coincidental resemblance between the names "Michaelinda" and "Michael";
• based on this assumption, that the content of the poems was inappropriate for an educator and a religious;
• that Sister Plante had chosen the Tarot cards for illustrations, in violation of the precepts of the church;
• and that there might not even be a real Ross family--or a real Michael!

In any event, Mrs. Leite was either extremely offended by the book, or melodramatically feigned such offense as a pretext for further action against Sister Plante. No one can be certain which is the case. As a fallen-away Catholic, and a member of an evangelical Christian sect that condemns "occult" imagery much more harshly, Mrs. Leite seemingly did not understand the Church's actual position regarding Tarot cards and their pictures.

When the meeting more or less adjourned, Mrs. Leite stormed angrily out of the room. Yvonne George followed, attempting unsuccessfully to reason with her. Sister Plante was reduced to tears by the aggressive accusations and hostility that she had been confronted with. Deeply shaken, Mrs. Lyman took Pamela Pollock aside, and asked if they could discuss the still unresolved issues privately. Mrs. Pollock agreed that she would stay in touch with Mrs. Lyman, but that at the moment, Mrs. Leite "needed to vent." However, when Yvonne George and David Andrews attempted to contact Mrs. Pollock shortly after the unsuccessful meeting, she responded with terse letters ordering all persons associated with the praise campaign not to contact anyone connected with the Samaritans/FRNB again on pain of legal action. After Susan Lyman began receiving unsigned harassing letters a few weeks later, she sent samples of these letters to Mrs. Pollock via certified mail. There was no reply. Mrs. Lyman sent a second certified letter containing samples of harassing letters to Mrs. Pollock, which was rejected. There was no further legitimate communication between Mrs. Lyman and the Samaritans/FRNB.

Following the meeting, Sister Plante wrote to Congressman Blute to complain about the fact that Louis Cabral had intercepted a confidential letter and forwarded it to the Samaritans/FRNB. She stated that she felt Mr. Cabral had behaved "unprofessionally." Congressman Blute never replied to Sister Plante's letter about Mr. Cabral. Meanwhile, Sister Plante and Yvonne George agreed that they should arrange to meet with the Bishop, and with Sister Plante's superior, Sister Rosemary Laliberte, and explain what was going on, before Mrs. Leite went to them with her emotional complaints. Unfortunately, they didn't realize that the Samaritans/FRNB would get there ahead of them.

The Meeting With Bishop O'Malley

On July 19, 1994, representatives of the Fall River Samaritans arranged a meeting with Bishop O'Malley, head of the Fall River Diocese. In attendance at this meeting were:

• Ellie Leite, Executive Director of the Fall River Samaritans;
• Barbara Mackowski, Assistant Director;
• Michael Moran, former Board President and WSAR Radio talk show host;
• Pamela Pollock, then Board President and Assistant Director of the New Bedford, Massachusetts YWCA;
• Attorney Anne Denardis, member of the Board;
• Paul Foster, assistant to the Bristol County Sheriff;
• David Nelson, Bristol County Sheriff;
• and Louis Cabral, Aide to Congressman Peter Blute.

• that Sister Plante, personally, was acting as a "conduit" for a Winchester family who was "annoying" them by trying to make anonymous donations to their organization;
• that the letters of praise, commendations, and citations given to them by various Massachusetts politicians (and the follow-up letters of verification) were in fact forgeries;
• that Sister Plante, personally, "was involved in criminal activities" including "mail fraud", connected with the praise campaign, and was "associating with criminal elements";
• that "hundreds of copies" of the book of poems (which was shown to the Bishop) were published and distributed;
• that Sister Plante had written the book, including inappropriate and offensive "satanic" themes, and had herself chosen Tarot cards for illustrations;
• that there was a possibility that the Winchester family and their son might not even exist at all;
• that Sister Plante had "harassed" the Samaritans/FRNB.

According to a deposition later taken from Barbara Mackowski, the Bishop told the group that "he could do something about Sister Michaelinda, but not about anybody else involved." Mrs. Mackowski testified that Bishop O'Malley "stated that Sister Michaelinda was basically being removed from her position in a very short time."

On July 20, 1994, the Samaritans/FRNB sent the Bishop a letter thanking him for taking the time to meet with them.

The Bishop is a Cool Customer

Sister Plante remained wholly unaware that this meeting had taken place. The allegations were never investigated, and she was not asked to explain her side of the story. On the afternoon of July 19--by coincidence, the same day as the Samaritans/FRNB's meeting--Sister Plante and Yvonne George met with the Bishop to discuss the whole situation, including Sister Plante's concerns about threatening phone calls from Samaritans/FRNB Board members and notes she was receiving warning her to leave the Samaritans/FRNB alone. The Bishop told her that he had no idea who the Samaritans/FRNB were, and feigned complete ignorance of the entire story. He indicated to Sister Plante that he would contact the Samaritans/FRNB and try to rectify the problems. Sister Plante said that she would send him the names of references who would vouch for her integrity as an educator and a religious, and the Bishop agreed to contact these individuals.

The following week, Sister Plante arranged to meet with Sister Laliberte, her immediate religious superior, to discuss the situation with the Samaritans/FRNB. According to Sister Plante, Sister Laliberte told her, "I don't see that you did anything wrong. Using a Sister of Mercy check might have been imprudent--but not wrong." Sister Laliberte never indicated to Sister Plante that she had been visited by representatives of the Samaritans/FRNB or that she had prior knowledge of the conflict.

Sister Plante was sufficiently alarmed by the telephone calls she was receiving to report them to the New Bedford Police Department on July 31, 1994. Captain Lewis Silva responded to her complaint in writing on August 5, 1994, advising her to report future harassing calls to the police and to the telephone company. On August 2, 1994, Sister Plante wrote to Atty. Peter L. Paull, Jr. to advise him that since June 15 she had received over forty harassing phone calls, anonymous door-bell rings at her home and threatening letters. She asked him to put a stop to these activities. Mrs. Susan Lyman was also receiving threatening anonymous letters referring to the praise campaign and the Samaritans/FRNB at her summer home in Maine during this same period, along with harassing telephone calls that were traced to a Fall River, Massachusetts telephone booth.

The Axe Falls

On August 15, 1994, Sister Plante was called to a meeting at the Department of Education with Father Richard Beaulieu, the Director of Education for the Diocese and her supervisor, and Sister Rosemary Laliberte, R.S.M., Sister's religious superior. Sister Plante's superiors told her that she was being placed on involuntary leave of absence because she was "stressed and tired." They also informed Sister Plante that the Samaritans/FRNB had threatened the Bishop with a lawsuit. Sister Plante was not told anything about the specific allegations made by the Samaritans/FRNB, or about their visit to the Bishop on July 19. She was ordered to submit to a variety of psychiatric and medical tests including an MRI, EKG, a complete physical, a psychiatric evaluation, and counseling, and was merely told that "the Bishop wants you to take these tests."

When Sister Plante went to her office on August 19th to return some completed typing work she had picked up before the August 15 meeting with Father Beaulieu, she found that the lock had already been changed on the door. The Diocese claimed that the lock was changed because the door was sticking, but according to Sister Plante, the lock had been completely replaced only a few months earlier and was virtually new. Sister Plante was told that the Samaritans/FRNB claimed that she had a file in her office on them, and was looking into their business. Father Beaulieu told Sister Plante that her mail had been read and that he had had one of the secretaries monitor her telephone calls. Furthermore, both Father Beaulieu and Sister Laliberte told Sister Plante that they too had been visited by representatives of the Samaritans/FRNB, although they did not specify what they had been told in those meetings. When Father Beaulieu found that Sister Plante was still in the Department of Education building on August 15 after their meeting, he harshly ordered her to "get out now!"

Sister Plante was stunned by these events. She was given no warning whatsoever that there were any problems. Before the meeting on August 15, Father Beaulieu himself told Sister Plante that her job performance was excellent. She had already signed her employment contract for the coming 1994-95 academic year. The Diocese did not give Sister Plante any due process or opportunity to defend herself. She wasn't even asked any questions.

Sister Plante cooperated fully with the demands for medical and psychiatric tests. The results, which are in the possession of her attorneys, showed Sister Plante to be in good physical and mental health. Absolutely no abnormalities or aberrations of any kind were found. While Sister Plante was seeing the psychiatrist who evaluated her, Dr. Maureen Malin, she was given copies of the July 20, 1994 letter of thanks the Samaritans/FRNB had written to the Bishop, and the September 30, 1993 "rough draft" from Atty. Paull. This was the first that she heard of the Samaritans/FRNB's visit to the Bishop. When Sister Plante realized that she and Yvonne George had met with Bishop O'Malley on the same day and the Bishop had pretended to know nothing of the situation or the Samaritans/FRNB, she knew that she was in very serious trouble indeed.

All of these humiliations, and the indefinite "leave of absence," led Sister Plante to conclude that she was about to be terminated from her position in disgrace. Desperately attempting to salvage what she could of her forty-three-year career as an educator, Sister Plante saw no other way to save face than by voluntarily tendering her resignation. It was a bitter concession for her to make, and one that she saw as being made under extreme duress. In her resignation letter to Bishop O'Malley dated September 10, 1994, Sister Plante stated that the happiest years of her life were spent working in the Fall River Diocese. She went on to say, "knowing that you, Father Beaulieu, and Sister Rosemary allowed people (the Samaritans), who none of you really knew, to ruin the reputation of someone with fourteen years of work in the Diocese. That hurts very much."

Sister Plante asked Father Beaulieu for a letter of reference so she could seek new employment. No letter of reference was or has ever been given to Sister Plante by the Diocese, or by her religious community. Sister Plante also asked to be allowed 90 days, as stipulated in her original housing contract, to find employment and a new place to live. On September 12, 1994--as soon as the Bishop received her letter of resignation--Sister Plante was evicted from the Diocese-owned rectory she occupied, effective as of that date. The Diocese later claimed that the rectory was needed to house a new priest. However, Sister Plante and another nun had occupied the rectory for some time and had been given absolutely no advance warning that they might lose their residence. It seems highly coincidental that the rectory would suddenly be needed for a priest the moment that Sister Plante had submitted a letter of resignation. Sister Plante was given no grace period to seek employment or housing, and was not even permitted to gather a picture of her deceased father or her personal belongings from her office. It finally took a letter from Patrick McCormack, Sister Plante's attorney, to Father Beaulieu before Sister Plante was allowed to retrieve her personal belongings in October, 1994--over a year later.

Shunned by her religious leaders, Sister Plante was now left jobless, homeless, and with a tarnished reputation, never having had the opportunity to defend herself against any of the allegations made against her by the Samaritans/FRNB. A vowed member of a religious order, Sister Plante had devoted her entire life to the Church, and was under a vow of poverty. She did find temporary housing in an abandoned convent located in Tiverton, Rhode Island. She was unable to seek employment without a letter of recommendation from the Diocese. Ousted unjustly and alone in her quest to regain her reputation and get back her life, Sister Plante found herself with only one recourse: legal action.