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Louisville priest accused of abuse well before new series of lawsuits

Before the Rev. Louis E. Miller was accused of sexual abuse in a series of lawsuits this year, similar claims were made against him by two other people, including a relative.

(BOXED) "I have a wonderful gift that I hardly ever recall details of those conversations. This comes from many years as a confessor. There's a discipline that will kind of wash those things away."

- Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly's response when questioned about Miller's prior accusations.One suit was filed in 1999 by the Catholic priest's niece, Mary C. Miller. The case was settled last year.

Her attorney, Will Driscoll, said the Archdiocese of Louisville was "incredibly protective of everything in church files and any prior knowledge they had of complaints" against Miller.

In a deposition on March 3, 2000, Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly refused to say if Miller had been previously accused of touching a child inappropriately. The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported Sunday.

Kelly said any conversation he had with Miller – or any priest – would be confidential – just as if it had taken place in the confessional. Kelly also quipped he'd be unlikely to remember any admissions, even if the archbishop were forced to disclose them, the newspaper reported.

"I have a wonderful gift that I hardly ever recall details of those conversations," Kelly said. "This comes from many years as a confessor. There's a discipline that will kind of wash those things away."

Asked if any lawsuits had been filed previously against Miller, Kelly replied: "To my recollection, no other suits have been filed against Father Miller."

But in fact, in August 1990, Mark Delmenhorst sued Miller and the archdiocese, accusing the priest of abusing Delmenhorst in 1977, when he was 15 and a student at St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish school. This suit was later settled.

Kelly knew about Delmenhorst. Brian Reynolds, the archdiocese's chief administrative officer, said in an interview last month that Kelly met with Delmenhorst and his parents in December 1989 and the next month barred Miller from working around children, the newspaper reported.

"I don't know if the archbishop didn't remember or what, but his testimony was incorrect," Driscoll said. "Draw your own conclusions."

Through a spokeswoman, Kelly said last week that at the time of his deposition, "I did not recall that the Delmenhorst case involved a lawsuit."

Mary Miller's suit was filed when she was 36. It named her uncle as the lone defendant. She alleged that at two family gatherings, when she was 10 years old, he twice kissed her on the mouth with his mouth open, and five years afer that, forced her to hold his penis while he sat next to her on a couch. She also contended that in 1998, a year before filing the suit, he touched her arm at a family funeral and said, "That ought to do you for awhile."

Mary Miller declined to be interviewed.

In his deposition, Louis Miller denied he had molested Mary Miller or that he was a pedophile, although he testified that for nine years he had been seeing a psychologist who specializes in treating sex offenders.

"Do you personally feel that you have some tendencies to be attracted to children?" Driscoll asked Louis Miller.

The defendant's lawyer, B. Frank Radmacher, III, wouldn't let him answer, citing his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

The archdiocese's lawyer, Jack Ford, also refused to let Kelly answer a dozen questions, including whether parishioner's had ever complained about Louis Miller; whether Miller had ever been transferred because of such complaints; and whether the archdiocese had ever paid to settle them.

Ford cited in part a judge's earlier ruling in the case that the archdiocese didn't have to surrender any personnel records on priests.

In a series of lawsuits filed this year, Miller is accused of molesting 57 children in four parishes and on the watches of three archbishops.

Miller, 71, retired in March after Kelly removed him from his last assignment. Miller now lives in a retirement community for priests in Louisville.

He has not been charged with any crimes in connection with the dozens of suits filed since April 19 that accused him of misconduct, but name the Archdiocese of Louisville as defendant.

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