Church Probe Curbs Priest, by Kathleen Chapman, Palm Beach Post [Florida], October 21, 2006

Church Probe Curbs Priest

By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post [Florida]
October 21, 2006

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2006/10/21/m1a_FOLEY_MAIN_1021.html

The Archdiocese of Miami apologized to Mark Foley on Friday for the behavior of a priest who admitted fondling him four decades ago.

Anthony Mercieca, who now lives on the Mediterranean island of Gozo, is barred from celebrating Mass or wearing a priest's collar until the church finishes an internal investigation. Once the inquiry is complete, the archbishop of Miami could send his name to Rome for permanent removal from the priesthood, spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said.

"The Archdiocese of Miami is distressed by the revelations disclosed by Father Mercieca regarding former Rep. Mark Foley," Agosta said in a written statement. "Such behavior is morally reprehensible, canonically criminal and inexcusable."

Mercieca: Was at churches in Lake Worth and North Palm Beach in the 1960s.
Photo by The AP

The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, however, will not be able to charge Mercieca with a crime and considers its investigation closed, spokesman Mike Edmondson said Friday.

Foley attorney Gerald Richman sent a terse e-mail to the state attorney's office with the priest's name Wednesday, but did not include any details about a possible crime. Even if the office had a narrative of what happened, too much time has passed for Mercieca to be charged, Edmondson said.

Local prosecutors have been unable to arrest priests in similar cases because Florida law in the 1960s made it illegal only to molest a girl. Boys were not added to the statute until 1971.

Mercieca was a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth, where Foley was an altar boy, from 1965 to 1967. Foley was 13 when the two started spending time alone together.

Mercieca said he ate Christmas dinner with Foley's family and took the teen on trips to New York and the Arcadia rodeo. They went skinny-dipping in secluded lakes around Lake Worth and were naked together in a sauna, the priest admitted.

Mercieca told reporters that he fondled Foley one night when his mind was blurred from tranquilizers, but said he never had sex with him.

In 1967, Mercieca transferred to St. Clare parish in North Palm Beach. He spent two years there before moving on to churches in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. In 2002, he retired to the Maltese island of Gozo.

The Miami Archdiocese, which included Palm Beach parishes in the 1960s, has not received any other complaints, Agosta said. But church leaders are asking anyone who may have been abused by Mercieca to contact law enforcement or the archdiocesan victim assistance coordinator at (866) 802-2873.

The bishop of Gozo, Monsignor Mario Grech, also said he would cooperate with the investigation so that "justice is done to the victims, the perpetrators are reformed and the common good is safeguarded."

Richman said the priest's admission put to rest speculation that Foley made up the abuse for political purposes.

"We have full confidence that the church will deal appropriately with the issues relating to this unfortunate situation," he said.

Foley has been in treatment for alcoholism and behavioral problems since he resigned from Congress. He quit his seat after it was revealed that he sent sexual messages to teens who served as pages in the House of Representatives.

Church leaders hope that Foley will feel some relief after telling his secret.

"With God's merciful grace this painful revelation can be the beginning of a reconciliation and an instrument of redemption and healing for Mr. Foley," Agosta's statement said.

Staff writer Ana X. Ceron contributed to this story.