Someone's Lying!
In deposition, interview Sister Michaelinda refutes
Bishop's statement about loss of her job
by Ed Rice
Winchester Town Crier
December 7, 1995
In the nun's own 170-page deposition obtained late last week by the Town Crier, Sister Michaelinda forged ahead with her defamation lawsuit against the Samaritans of Fall River in Norfolk Superior Court, claiming that it wasn't until 9 o'clock on the morning of August 15, 1994 when she was called into her superiors' office, Father Richard Beaulieu and Sister Rosemary LaLiberti and told she was being put on a leave of absence.
When she asked her superiors the reason for this action, she testified (on page 53 of the deposition) Sister Laliberti told her: "You are being put on leave and you are going to be requested to go to a psychiatric evaluation because the bishop was visited by members of the Samaritans. They gave him specific information and that was a concern to him. They threatened him with a lawsuit."
The only statement made to date by Bishop Sean O'Malley...the head of the diocese of Fall River makes no statement explaining why the 60-year-old Sister of Mercy and former principal of St. Mary's school in Winchester was required to take a leave of absence, and then "decided to tender a letter of resignation." Previously, spokesman John Kearns of the diocese has said no statement on that topic can be made because it is "a personnel matter."
As reported in last week's Town Crier, Bishop O'Malley is scheduled to give a deposition to the nun's attorney, Robert A. George of Boston, on Monday, December 11. On Wednesday, Kearns had no comment on whether the bishop will be present to testify in the case next Monday.
In the deposition the attorney representing the Samaritans, James Franchek, repeatedly returned to the issue of the psychiatric counseling and testing the nun was required to undergo.
Sister Michaelinda repeated several times during the deposition-giving, which covered around nine hours, that her mental and physical health were fine, and that she'd never undergone any kind of psychiatric evaluation until her superiors required it at that August 15 meeting.
Both Edward J. Florino, director of veterans services in Medford, and Yvonne George, Swansea constable who recently dropped her lawsuit against the Samaritans to not "deflect attention" away from the nun's case, have earlier told the Town Crier that representatives of the Samaritans had on several occasions attempted to discredit Sister Michaelinda by saying she was "mentally unbalanced."
In an interview Tuesday night, Sister Michaelinda felt that attorney Franchek was pursuing a course matching the earlier Samaritan charge that she was somehow "mentally unbalanced."
"It's an absolute lie. Up until August 15 I've never, never, never ever been told to seek such counseling. And I only did so then to fulfill the obligation to the bishop and my bosses. I had a MRI, an EKG, a complete physical and everything checked out okay...other than it was noted that my cholesterol is high," she said, laughing only when she reached the commonplace warning about her cholesterol.
In her deposition (page 54), Sister Michaelinda said her two immediate superiors, Fr. Beaulieu and Sr. Rosemary, admitted to her that the Samaritans had made visits to them.
Sister Michaelinda then testified: "Then I said I felt that sending my to psychiatric--asking me to go to the psychiatric evaluation was an insult to me. I had never been accused of any kind of problem in the past. I didn't feel I had any problems at this point in time. Didn't they realize what she [Sister Rosemary] was doing to me, vis-a-vis the religious community? And I turned to Father Beaulieu and said, 'Do you realize what you're doing to me professionally?' At that point in time Sister Rosemary said, 'We are doing what the bishop is asking us to do because of the threat from the Samaritans.'"
During the course of the deposition the nun faced a number of general questions about her professional background and credit reputation. In one exchange she fired off a series of "Never," responses to questions from Franchek as to whether she had ever received any reprimands, warnings or suspension of any kind in over 40 years of service to the Catholic church and the Sisters of Mercy.
The date on Sister Michaelinda's letter of resignation was Sept. 10, 1994. Asked by Franchek why she resigned her position, Sister Michaelinda stated: "Because after considering all the information that had been given to me on the day that I was put on leave, the fact that I was locked out of my office, I was told that they were listening to my telephone calls...They were reading my mail...I was locked out of my office because of the fact that I was told that the Samaritans told the bishop there was a file on them in my office, and I was not allowed to go into my office to get any of my personal belongings and/or my professional folders until after the attorney that I had at that present time, Patrick McCormack, sent a letter to Father Beaulieu asking for me to be allowed to get into my office."
On page 117 of the deposition, Samaritan attorney Franchek asked Sister Michaelinda if she believes that the diocese of Fall River "terminated your employment wrongfully."
"Yes," she replied.
Asked upon what she based that statement, the nun said, "The information that they received from the Samaritans and the fact that it was told to me by my superior that I was being put on leave because of that, because of the information given to them by the Samaritans. I don't have any other reason to believe that I was put on leave. As I said previously, I had never been given a warning, I had never been given any complaint. It came as a total shock to me."
In her interview with the Town Crier Tuesday night, Sister Michaelinda said she remains puzzled as to why the bishop told the Samaritans in a July 19 meeting he was going to shortly remove her from her post as associate superintendent of elementary schools for the diocese of Fall River (according to the deposition of Barbara Makowski, the assistant to the director of the Samaritans, who attended that meeting) and then waited until Aug. 15 to put her on administrative leave with no explanation. "Why the blazes did he wait so long? Why wasn't I told I was in jeopardy of losing my job?"
Further, the nun charges the bishop with a very unfeeling behavior after he received her letter of resignation. "My letter was dated on Sept. 10 and he must have received it in Fall River on Sept. 12th because I was told that very day he wanted me out of the house. He threw me out of the house I was living in that very day, even though I had a 90-day contract. His message to me was 'Tell her I want her out of the house.' Yet the letter I got back from him, confirming my decision to resign, didn't come until Sept. 21."
The nun continued, "I don't know how he can say in his statement 'I did not act on this request [letter of resignation] for some time.' He acted upon it immediately."
© copyright 1995 The Winchester Town Crier. Reprinted by written permission of Ed Rice, former editor.
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