By Mike Clary and Peter Franceschina
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 18, 2006
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pfoley18oct18,0,7407086.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
West Palm Beach · Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley will reveal to the Archdiocese of Miami the name of the Roman Catholic priest he says abused him almost four decades ago, his attorney said Tuesday.
Gerald Richman, speaking at a West Palm Beach news conference, said Foley will agree to counseling provided through the church as a part of his recovery from alcoholism and sexual abuse.
"This is all part of the healing process for Mark Foley," Richman said.
 |
| Mark Foley |
The disclosure that Foley, 52, will name the clergyman he said molested him between the ages of 13 and 15 comes two weeks after the Fort Pierce Republican abruptly resigned his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after being confronted with sexually explicit Internet exchanges he had with teenage pages.
Two days later the 12-year congressman entered an unidentified rehabilitation facility, and through another attorney, David Roth, announced that he was gay and that he had been abused by a clergyman without offering any other specifics or a church affiliation.
Through his attorneys, Foley has denied any sexual contact with minors.
Fallout from the Foley scandal continues to ripple through the political landscape, triggering investigations in Washington and contributing to the gloomy forecast for many GOP candidates in next month's mid-term elections.
Church officials requested on Oct. 5 that Foley reveal the name of the alleged abuser to prosecutors. Richman said he hopes the archdiocese will make public the name of Foley's alleged abuser, but Richman said he won't know that until he meets with church officials. He said he hoped that could happen as soon as today.
"I have no idea how they will deal with it, but they've dealt with these matters before, and we have confidence the Catholic Church will appropriately deal with this issue," Richman said. "We are doing the best thing that we possibly can, which is to make sure that it comes out to the archdiocese and hopefully, ultimately, publicly, but it is going to be up to the archdiocese on how to deal with it."
Foley attended Sacred Heart Church as a youth in Lake Worth, but Richman said he did not know where the alleged abuse occurred. During that time, Palm Beach County was part of the Miami Archdiocese.
Richman said he did not know the priest's name, and neither did the archdiocese, since J. Patrick Fitzgerald, the general counsel for the church in Miami, was unavailable Tuesday to meet with him.
While the priest who Foley alleges molested him is still alive, Richman said, it is unknown whether he is in South Florida or still practicing.
Richman said he had conferred with Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer. "And we've basically concluded that there's no basis to file criminal charges because of a number of legal obstacles," Richman said.
Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for Krischer's office, declined to comment on the Foley matter but said Florida laws in the 1960s, when Foley said he was abused, didn't address the molestation of boys, only girls.
Palm Beach County prosecutors ran into that stumbling block in 1996 while investigating a retired priest who admitted to molesting several boys in the late 1960s while he was at St. Mark's in Boynton Beach. No charges were filed in that case.
Charges of misconduct and abuse by priests have roiled the Catholic Church for years, and neither the Archdiocese of Miami nor the Diocese of Palm Beach have been immune.
David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Foley should go to prosecutors, not church officials, with the name of his alleged abuser.
"Mark Foley is setting a terrible example. Sex crimes should be reported to police officials, not church officials. Foley should still tell law enforcement the name immediately," Clohessy said in a statement. "If the priest is still living, the burden now falls to Miami church authorities to move quickly, warn parents and protect kids."
Days after Foley made allegations of clergy abuse, Fitzgerald sent a letter to one of Foley's attorneys asking that the name of the abuser be reported to Krischer because "all clergy that served in Palm Beach County have been needlessly placed under suspicion."
Mary Ross Agosta, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Tuesday that church officials have heard nothing from Foley or his attorneys.
"This should be dealt with in a very pastoral setting, not in a press conference," said Agosta. "This is unfair to a lot of people. If [the priest] is still active, are we putting other people in jeopardy? Maybe that's the question that [Foley's attorneys]... should ask themselves."
The Diocese of Palm Beach has a long history with abusive priests. Two of its bishops, J. Keith Symons and Anthony O'Connell, were forced to resign after abuse allegations against them were raised publicly. In recent years church officials have taken away the rights of at least nine men to function as priests after allegations against them came to light.
Staff Writer Nancy L. Othón contributed to this report.
Mike Clary can be reached at mclary@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6629.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.