But the women wouldn’t get far. The secretary stopped them, Allen recounted, and said she would have to go ask Kowal if the new arrangement was OK.

The secretary soon informed them it was actually not OK – because of the priest’s “racist” dog.

“I’m sorry,” Kowal’s secretary said, according to a complaint sent to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis last month.

“We are not trying to be rude, but the dog doesn’t like black people.”

Allen said she “didn’t really even have words”, baffled at what she just heard. She was ultimately turned away, and the experience haunted her so much that she felt she could not stay silent.

“They came at me like it was supposed to be a joke,” she said, “but it was not funny. There was nothing funny about it.”

Allen and Weaver sent a racial discrimination complaint to the Diocese of Memphis on July 3, seeking a “settlement and compromise”.

But last week, the Diocese of Memphis said in a statement that it completed its investigation and found that what happened at the priest’s rectory “simply was not a case of racial discrimination” and that Kowal “did nothing wrong”.

The investigation came in response to the complaint, which was first reported by The Commercial Appeal last week.

In the church’s version of events, the secretary’s words were: “Father Jacek’s dog is kinda racist” – although in the eyes of the diocese, the statement did not stem from any racial discrimination.

The priest and church staff were strictly concerned that the dog, a German shepherd named Ceaser, could attack Allen or both women, based in part on a past incident the dog had with an African-American, according to the letter from Bishop David Talley.

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“Although the parish staff member’s choice of words was highly unfortunate and imprecise, they were not motivated by racial animus,” Talley wrote.

“Rather, the concern by all involved was the safety of these women, one of whom was a stranger to the dog, and they knew that attempting to crate the dog would be dangerous when its owner was not present.”

Allen’s lawyer, Maureen Holland, said she was disappointed in the bishop’s finding. Allen said she feared the diocese was not taking her complaint seriously, especially because the church did not respond for weeks to her letter.

Blaming a dog for racism, she said, appeared to mask underlying discrimination. And she felt both discipline and training for the priest and staff should have been required “because he needs to know that it’s not OK to say something like that to people.”

“I took it to be that he was using [the dog] as an excuse,” Allen said. “Dogs can’t see colour. Dogs can only be taught who to be around and who not to be around.”

Kowal did not respond to requests for comment, but in a statement to The Commercial Appeal last week, he echoed Talley’s explanation, mentioning the dog’s “bad experience” with an African-American person.

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“Since that time, Ceaser (the dog) has been aggressive with strangers until he gets to know them. And this is especially true for strangers that happen to be African-American,” Kowal wrote to the newspaper.

He strongly disagreed that the incident could be described as racist.

“As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I wholeheartedly believe all forms of discrimination based upon race or ethnicity are sinful and wrong,” he wrote.

“As a pastor, I have ministered to, employed and worked with numerous African-Americans. Their claim that I didn’t want an African-American to clean my rectory is simply not true.”

A lawyer for the diocese declined further comment.

Holland said the diocese has not contacted her clients directly about their complaint.

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