Des Plaines Illinois caregiver Irene Serwa is suing the estate of the late Fr Edwin Bohula claiming that she had a clandestine affair with the priest for 13 years. Serwa claims she and Bohula had a clandestine affair for 13 years living together as "husband and wife" from 1994 until Bohula's death in 2007, the Daily Herald reports.
Serwa is suing Bohula's estate, for which she is a co-trustee, and its beneficiary, Dominican Sisters of Chicago, for sole rights to the Des Plaines home that Serwa and Bohula jointly owned.
According to the complaint, they first met in 1959 when Serwa was a student at St Fidelis Grammar School in Chicago and Bohula was the assistant pastor of that church.
The two became reacquainted in 1994 and began an intimate relationship after Bohula's mother died, the lawsuit claims.
Bohula, who died Dec. 2, 2007, left a will allowing Serwa to continue living in their home for the rest of her life, but leaving his interest in the property to the Dominican Sisters of Chicago Rosary Hill Convalescent Home, a Polish Catholic order, according to the lawsuit.
Sr Natalie Pekala, a co-trustee of Bohula's estate and a spokeswoman for the Dominican Sisters of Chicago, declined to comment on the lawsuit or Bohula's will.
Archdiocese of Chicago spokeswoman Dianne Dunagan said officials are aware of Serwa's lawsuit, but have no knowledge of a "civil marriage" between her and Bohula or the will he left behind.
"It really doesn't have anything to do with the archdiocese," she told the Herald.
Many people at Bohula's parish knew he and Serwa were living under the same roof in Des Plaines, but no one knew about their private lives, said Fr Ed Gleeson, who succeeded Bohula in 2003 as pastor of St James at Sag Bridge Catholic Parish.
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