06533
October 20, 2006

Priest at center of Foley scandal tells of massages, skinny-dipping

by Daniel Burke
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — A Roman Catholic priest said he had an intimate relationship with former Rep. Mark Foley in the 1960s but couldn’t recall whether they had sex, according to a newspaper report.
   
     The Rev. Anthony Mercieca, 72, said he and Foley participated in a series of acts — including naked massages and skinny-dipping — that could be perceived as inappropriate, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
   
     Mercieca, who was a priest in Florida in 1966-2003, said there may have been an additional incident one night but he couldn’t recall because he had been taking tranquilizers, according to the newspaper.
   
     “I have to confess, I was going through a nervous breakdown. I was taking pills — tranquilizers. I used to take them all the time. They affected my mind a little bit,” Mercieca told the Herald-Tribune. The priest now lives on the island of Gozo, near Italy.
   
     Mercieca later told the Associated Press that the Herald-Tribune’s account was “exaggerated.” The relationship between him and Foley was not sexual in nature and the two “were friends and trusted each other as brothers,” Mercieca told the AP on Thursday.
   
     “I wonder why 40 years later he brings this up?” Mercieca said, according to the Associated Press.
   
     Foley, 52, resigned his seat in Congress last month after it was revealed that he had sexually explicit online conversations with male teenage congressional pages.
   
     Since then, his lawyers have said that the former Republican congressman was abused by a “clergyman” in Florida “36-38 years ago.” Mercieca worked at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth, FL, where Foley was an altar boy, in 1966-1967, according to church records. However, Foley’s attorneys have not publicly named his alleged abuser.
   
     Foley’s lawyers told the Palm Beach state attorney’s office the name of his alleged abuser late Wednesday. That office was not immediately available for comment.
   
     The Archdiocese of Miami said it had been given the name of the accused priest and promised to “fully cooperate” with any investigation. Church officials said they would release the name once they receive permission from the state attorney’s office.