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	Seeking Abuser Is No Witch Hunt By Tom Lyons Herald-Tribune [Florida] October 19, 2006 http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/COLUMNIST36/610190458 In the wake of the resignation by U.S. Rep. Mark "Chats Dirty With Teen Boys" Foley, the big question in Congress has been who knew what, and when, and yet did nothing. The Catholic Church should have been facing questions, too, about why it didn't seem very fired up to learn more. When Foley resigned and apologized, he didn't give many specifics about what he was apologizing for. But he did offer what was widely taken as an attempt at explaining or excusing himself after the exposure of his smutty electronic sex chat with teen boys. He said he had been molested, at about age 13 to 15. By a clergyman. I leaned toward believing Foley on that, mainly because it wasn't a good enough excuse to help him. It was no excuse at all, actually. So it wasn't really worth it to make up such a thing. Foley also labeled himself an alcoholic brought low by booze-addled misjudgment. That claim, too, seemed like a lame attempt to portray himself as not fully responsible for himself. But I can still believe he has an alcohol problem. So I was surprised by the reaction from a church spokeswoman when a Herald-Tribune reporter called her to ask what sort of investigation the church would launch to identify the molester. It seemed to the reporter, and to me, that it might not be too hard to figure out, by perusing church records, which priest or other church employees Foley had associated with when he was a Catholic altar boy in Lake Worth, where he also attended Catholic school. Experience has taught us that sexual abusers often leave behind red flags that aren't that hard to spot once you know where to look. And the church is supposed to be very into preventing sexual abuse these days. So it seemed like the kind of thing the church wouldn't shy away from. But the Diocese of Palm Beach spokeswoman, Alexis Walkenstein, was downright bothered by the suggestion that there should be an internal investigation. She said it would be "a witch hunt." Huh? No investigation was possible, she insisted, because Foley hadn't named his molester. Nor had the church asked Foley for the name, actually. Only after many more press calls did the church send a letter to Foley's lawyer asking him to name his molester. This week, Walkenstein, aware that I was wondering about the lack of investigative zeal, refused even to tell me what date that letter was sent. She continued to insist no investigation was possible, and that the Herald-Tribune reporter who had suggested otherwise must have an anti-church agenda. No ma'am. That reporter, Matthew Doig, has a pro-investigation agenda. He thinks what I think: Molesters should be outed. The church officially thinks so, too, remember? I asked Walkenstein, on Wednesday afternoon, whether she really still hadn't heard the name of the clergyman Foley was referring to. I asked because, by then, Doig and other Herald-Tribune reporters knew the name, and had been pretty sure they knew it for well more than a day. They also knew that the man, Anthony Mercieca, was recently retired and had moved back to his homeland, Malta, in the Mediterranean. Doig was phoning him right then. No, the diocese still didn't have a name, Walkenstein said, because though Foley by then had promised to reveal it to the diocese, he hadn't yet done so. When I hinted that I knew the name, Walkenstein surprised me again: She didn't even ask who it was. I think I understand. It can happen at institutions of all kinds, churches included, that bad news of some difficult sort becomes so unpleasant to deal with that those in management don't want to seek it out even if they know they should. Not even when that supposedly great lesson has been learned. If such bad news drops in their laps, OK, they'll handle it. They'll have to. But if a sexual abuse victim lacks the will or the nerve to out his molester, hey, what can they do? Start digging around and asking a bunch of tacky and uncomfortable questions? Well, yes. Sometimes that's what it takes to find sexual abusers. It's not a witch hunt. It's not anti-church. It's called an investigation. It's what you do if you really want to know. Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.
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