MIAMI (FL)
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
May 21, 2005
The following is a significant portion of the text of a lawsuit filed May 20, 2005, in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court by attorneys Sharon Bourassa, Joe Titone and Mark Viethe. (Note: Sharon Bourassa has informed me that "the lawsuit was altered yesterday [May 20], shortened. It has been filed. It basically says the same thing, but some of the causes of action have been changed. We have just summed it up better.")
PLAINTIFF'S VERIFIED COMPLAINT
COMES NOW, the Plaintiff, Father Andrew Dowgiert, by and through his undersigned counsel, and sues Defendants, ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI, ARCHBISHOP JOHN C. FAVALORA, MONSIGNOR WILLIAM J. HENNESSEY and FATHER ANIBAL MORALES, and alleges as follows: ...
Approximately 17 years ago, Father Andrew was ordained in Poland under Bishop Kiesiel in Bialystok, close to Lithuania. The Bishop knew Fr. Andrew for approximately 12 years and for 5 of those years, Fr. Andrew worked as a priest under Bishop Kiesiel in Poland. Father Andrew then requested permission by the Bishop to be sent to Zimbabwe, Africa as a missionary priest. Fr. Andrew was a missionary priest in Zimbabwe from 1994-1999. There he contacted Malaria and further, the political climate being very dangerous at the time, as the political government did not like Catholic priests, Father Andrew returned to Poland. In Poland, he requested that he be sent to the Archdiocese of Miami, Florida to continue to fulfill his priestly duties.
In 1999, the Archbishop assigned Father Andrew to St. Justin Martyr Catholic Church, in Key Largo, Florida. See attached hereto Plaintiff's Composite Exhibit C. While Father Andrew continued his priestly duties at St. Justin Martyr's, the Pastor, Father Olszewski, was removed for sexual misconduct on minors. During the time that Father Andrew worked under Father Olszewski, he was not compensated his full salary of $1450.00 a month, amounting to in excess of fifteen thousand ($15,000.00) dollars. Father Olszewski paid Father Andrew only five hundred ($500.00) dollars a month. See W-4 forms attached hereto as Plaintiff's Composite Exhibit D.