Rev. Daniel Clark

Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up
in the Louisville Archdiocese
Documents and Other Resources

This page presents documents and other resources for understanding the sex-abuse and cover-up crisis in the Archdiocese of Louisville during the episcopates of four men: Archbishops John A. Floersh (1924-1967), Thomas J. McDonough (1967-1981), Thomas C. Kelly OP (1981-2007), and Joseph E. Kurtz (2007-present). The events documented on this page were personally disastrous for the many hundreds of victims of sexual abuse by Louisville clergy and for the thousands of family members who helped the victims cope with a callous and even malevolent system. Catholics in Louisville and surrounding communities found their faith shaken, while beyond the archdiocese, people across the country watched a remarkable drama unfold.

The Uniqueness of Louisville

Four powerful factors have combined to transform the years since 2002 into years of reckoning for the Catholic church: courageous survivors who will not be intimidated or silenced; attorneys and prosecutors obtaining justice and social change through the courts; reporters and editors willing to pursue a complex and horrifying story; and judges who allowed the discovery of church files. We have seen these ingredients combine in various ways from Boston to Los Angeles, but their combination was particularly explosive in the Louisville archdiocese.

Nowhere else have so many brave survivors been willing to come forward by name, and nowhere else has a newspaper presented the survivors’ accounts as the Courier-Journal has done. Reporting by the newspaper was world class, particularly in 2002, when its exposure of secret church documents and thorough investigations matched those of any paper in the country, including the Boston Globe, which won a Pulitzer for its work.

The Louisville Documents

The archdiocesan documents were the source from which all the revelations came. The files contain reports of abuse and evidence of notice received by the archdiocese. We find the paper trails of priests transferred to unsuspecting parishes – and even moved to other dioceses – after a survivor comes forward. We see victims sweet-talked and pressured into unjust settlements, and treated most cruelly if they fight back. We find a beautiful-sounding policy ignored again and again. We even find poignant statements by the survivors themselves, preserved in the files of the institution where they suffered their abuse.

Now for the first time, the Louisville files can be read by the people of the Louisville archdiocese and by Americans and interested persons around the world. This crisis is now breaking in Belgium, Chile, and other countries, where bad bureaucracy and managerial cowardice are being uncovered, just as they have been in the Louisville archdiocese.

Below we provide a selection of survivor witness from the archdiocesan archives. Every scrap of information that has surfaced from the crisis has emerged from moments of individual courage and dignity like these. Then we offer an easy-to-explore collection of documents that show some of the failures of management in the Louisville archdiocese. Unfortunately, despite the many revelations of recent years, complicit church managers and problematic systems have endured. Next we offer a selection from the Courier-Journal’s excellent coverage. And then we provide hundreds of pages of the files themselves. The files are presented with assignment records for each priest and profiles of the survivors.

BishopAccountability.org would like to thank the many Louisville survivors and advocates who patiently educated us and helped with redactions. We would also like to thank the attorneys who permitted us access to the documents.

Documents of Survivor Witness

• Creagh Survivor: “I do not seek money, notoriety or vengeance, however, I do seek justice.“
• Wood Survivor: “All I ever wanted to be was a priest and serve people.“
• Cole Survivor: “I wonder how many children have suffered.“
• Mouser Survivor: “Daily recurring thoughts of what transpired.“
• Archbishop Kelly’s Dialogue with a Miller Survivor’s Family
  • Survivor’s Wife: “During my childhood and up until now, my heart would always beat a little faster each Sunday as I received Communion.“
  • Survivor’s Parents: “It seems you have forgotten that our son is the victim.“
  • Survivor’s Wife: “The most damaging of the information that I discovered was from a retired nun.“
  • Archbishop Kelly: “I deeply regret your present circumstances, but I do not find myself able to alleviate them in any way.“
  • Survivor’s Parents: “They were made to feel more like the criminals instead of victims.“
  • Archbishop Kelly: “The restrictions Miller gracefully accepted on his work.“

Documents Showing Failures in Management

• Archdiocese of Louisville Statement of Policy and Procedures on Sexual Abuse, with a Letter by Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly (2/2/93) [Kelly cites the 11/19/92 NCCB Resolution, which in turn cites Pilarczyk’s 6/20/92 statement, which references Chopko’s 2/9/88 statement (all linked at the NCCB URL)]
• Wood & Reynolds: Reynolds tells a pastor not to allow a Wood survivor access to the rectory where Wood allegedly abused him at St. Polycarp (8/10/99)
• Herp & Medley: Medley meets with a man who insists that Herp’s appointment as pastor of Ascension be revoked or else, because when he was a boy in 1978 at Our Lady of Lourdes, Herp allegedly got him drunk and fellated him while he slept, and had abused someone else too (6/15/92)
• Daniel Clark & Kelly: Archbishop Kelly informs his staff that a vigilant probation officer is monitoring the restrictions on Clark’s assignments and travel: “This is new” (5/11/90)
• Daniel Clark & Medley: Medley tells Archbishop Kelly that a hospital where they had hoped Clark would work as a chaplain had learned that Clark (a recovering alcoholic) was already facilitating self-help groups at the hospital and sometimes smelled of alcohol; the superior of the Passionist monastery where Clark was living admitted that he sometimes drank there (5/29/91)
• Creagh & Kelly: Kelly’s “strictly confidential” memo to the file regarding Creagh’s admitted molestation of a 15-year-old boy, for which Kelly will not remove Creagh from his parish, and which he’ll keep secret from other priests. (3/9/83)
• Creagh & Kelly: Kelly’s memo about the financial negotiations with the boy’s parents, while Creagh left on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. (6/14/83)
• Creagh & Kelly: Nevins, the bishop of Venice FL where Creagh is assigned, wants a document from Kelly for his file, showing Creagh’s status and treatment, if any, in light of the bishops’ Collegeville meeting about abuse. (7/15/85)
• Creagh & Kelly: Letter from a woman who was a girl in Creagh’s parish, describing Creagh’s flirtatiousness and sexual behavior with her brothers. (5/6/02)
• Miller & Kelly & Medley: Memo urging that the Sacred Heart Home assignment be announced and that other work be found for “Lou”, who is embarrassed to be without assignment and is interested in Ascension (8/15/90)
• Miller & Medley: Memo on Medley’s meeting with Miller, who filled Medley in on the reasons for the restrictions; Miller asked for expanded nursing home ministry and prison ministry (11/20/90)
• Miller & Kelly & Breen: Memo assigning Miller to Holy Name parish and school with “certain restrictions” (4/8/91)
• Stoltz & Medley & Kelly: Memo from Medley to Kelly on the possibility, if Our Lady of Peace Hospital won’t take Stoltz back after his sexual abuse treatment, that Stoltz could be assigned to St. William parish, a good fit given his history, because the parish has few children and no children’s programs. (10/9/90)
• Stoltz & Kelly: Kelly’s memo to the file on possible assignments now that Our Lady of Peace Hospital won’t have him back, including St. William’s, the Cathedral, pastoral counseling in the Bardstown Road parishes, group therapy, or the tribunal. Kelly is getting a letter from Stoltz’s therapist that doesn’t mention that his therapy was mandatory at the hospital’s insistence, so that a priest can inform Stoltz’s victim. “I too feel the need to silence [the victim] if possible.” (4/19/91)
• Mouser & Kelly & Medley: Letter from Kelly to Dr. Wagner, stating that Medley recalled that Mouser had been previously accused. “Medley says that if it happened today we would have to report it. Although the incident had a negative pastoral effect on the victim and the family, no complaint was ever filed with the chancery or with the courts, nor is there likely to be.” (4/92)

The Courier-Journal’s Achievement

The Courier-Journal has played a major role in covering the Catholic sexual abuse crisis in the Louisville archdiocese. Here are some especially important articles:

• Church in Crisis, by Gregory A. Hall, Peter Smith, Andrew Wolfson, Deborah Yetter, and Mark Schaver (September 29, 2002) – The finest study ever done in a diocese of the survivors and the career histories of accused priests.
• A Priest’s Troubled Path: Abuse Allegations Followed Rev. Louis Miller Through Career, by Andrew Wolfson (June 23, 2002)
• Suits Accusing Dead Priests Raise Tough Issues for Church, Families, by Peter Smith (September 2, 2002)
• Miller’s Comments Indicate Archdiocese Officials Knew Decades Ago about Abuse, by Peter Smith (February 12, 2003)
• While Some Move On, Effects Are ‘Never Over’: Archdiocese, Victims Both Still Adjusting Long after Settlement, by Peter Smith (July 13, 2008)

The Documents

Note from BishopAccountability.org: We have been able to determine the names of 63 Louisville clerics accused of molesting minors. (See our Database of Accused Priests, Nuns, Brothers, Deacons, and Seminarians.) Note that even for the 20 priests whose files we are examining, the archdiocesan documents offer only a partial record. It is not unusual for a survivor to mention notice given to the archdiocese that is not reflected in the files. Some files tell us much about the archdiocesan culture, but little or nothing about the alleged abuse. Nor are these gaps unique to the Louisville archdiocesan files. But the Louisville documents still provide a remarkable window into abuse and cover-up in the Louisville archdiocese and into the experience of survivors. Selections from the files of the following priests are now online:

| Daniel C. Clark | Thomas R. Clark | Kevin Cole OFM Conv | Thomas P. Creagh |
| C. Patrick Creed | Robert J. Dollinger | Louis E. Miller | Arthur L. Wood |

Rev. Daniel C. Clark

• Clark’s assignments • Clark survivors

Rev. Thomas R. Clark

• Clark’s assignments

Rev. Kevin Cole

• Cole’s assignments • Cole survivors

Rev. Thomas P. Creagh

• Creagh’s assignments • Creagh survivors

Rev. C. Patrick Creed

• Creed’s assignments

Rev. Robert J. Dollinger

• Dollinger’s assignments • Dollinger survivors

Rev. Louis E. Miller

• Miller’s assignments • Miller’s survivors

Rev. Arthur L. Wood

• Wood’s assignments • Wood survivors