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	Maltese Priest's Behavior toward Foley Called Inexcusable, Criminal Catholic News Service [Florida] October 20, 2006 http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0605999.htm Miami (CNS) -- Father Anthony Mercieca's admitted behavior 40 years ago with a young Mark Foley "is morally reprehensible, canonically criminal and inexcusable," the spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami said Oct. 20, shortly after receiving the name of the former congressman's alleged abuser. Mary Ross Agosta, director of communications for the Miami Archdiocese, said Archbishop John C. Favalora had withdrawn from Father Mercieca the right to function as a priest and had begun an investigation that "could result in ecclesiastical sanctions" against the Maltese priest, who served in south Florida for 38 years. The Diocese of Gozo in Malta, for which Father Mercieca was ordained in 1962, was notified of Archbishop Favalora's decisions, the spokeswoman said. The priest, who retired in 2002 from work in the Miami Archdiocese, now lives on the Maltese island of Gozo. A notice on the Web site of the Diocese of Gozo said Bishop Mario Grech had asked his diocesan response team to investigate the abuse allegations and report back to him. It said the diocese had learned about the allegations Oct. 19 "from the international press." "Bishop Grech, conscious of the gravity of pedophilia, reiterates that he will cooperate with those responsible for investigating such cases so that justice is done to the victims, the perpetrators are reformed and the common good is safeguarded," the notice said. Ross Agosta also said "an apology is due to Mr. Foley for the hurt he has experienced," adding, "While it was long in coming, with God's merciful grace this painful revelation can be the beginning of reconciliation and an instrument of redemption and healing for Mr. Foley." Foley, a Republican who had represented Florida's 16th district in the House since 1994, resigned his seat Sept. 29 following reports that he had sent sexually explicit e-mails and text messages to House pages who were minors. The ex-congressman later said through an attorney that he had been abused by a clergyman when he was 13 to 15 years old, but the name was not disclosed until Oct. 19 to the Palm Beach County state attorney's office, which notified the archdiocese the following day. But before the official disclosure was made, Father Mercieca, 72, said in an interview with the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald Tribune that he and Foley "loved each other like brothers" when the priest was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Lake Worth in the late 1960s. Although the priest said he was never accused of sex abuse in any of the seven U.S. parishes where he served, he admitted that some of his behavior with Foley might have been considered sexually inappropriate. He said the two had been naked together on overnight trips and skinny-dipped in a Lake Worth lake and that the priest had given massages to a naked Foley when the former congressman was in his early teens. In a later interview with The Associated Press, however, Father Mercieca said the Herald Tribune story was "exaggerated" and that his relationship with Foley was never sexual. In her statement, Ross Agosta said the "events described (in the newspaper article) are totally contrary to the ministry of a priest." She said there had been no other sex abuse allegations against Father Mercieca during his time in the Miami Archdiocese, but asked anyone who "has been a victim of inappropriate behavior or abuse by Father Mercieca" to report the incident to law enforcement or the archdiocese. According to the Herald Tribune, Father Mercieca came to Florida from Brazil in the mid-1960s and was first assigned to Sacred Heart Parish, which is now in the Palm Beach Diocese. Foley was 11-13 years old and an altar boy at Sacred Heart when the priest served there in 1965-67. Other parishes where Father Mercieca served, according to the archdiocese, were: St. Clare, North Palm Beach, 1967-69; St. Coleman in Pompano Beach, 1969-73; Sacred Heart in Homestead, 1973-75; St. James in Miami, 1975-85; St. Ambrose in Deerfield Beach, 1985-87; St. Henry in Pompano Beach, 1987-93; and Blessed Trinity in Miami, 1993-2002. Gerald Richman, an attorney for Foley, told the Herald Tribune that he had talked with Barry Krischer, Palm Beach County state attorney, "and we've basically concluded that there's no basis to file criminal charges because of a number of legal obstacles." A lifelong Catholic, Foley served as an altar boy at Sacred Heart in Lake Worth and attended Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach until transferring to Lake Worth Community High School in 1971.
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