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	Ex-Altar Boy Accuses Priest Who Fondled Foley By Jay Weaver Miami Herald [Florida] October 26, 2006 http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15849788.htm A former North Miami altar boy accused the Archdiocese of Miami of failing to protect him from a priest who admitted fondling ex-U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. A retired Roman Catholic priest who admitted fondling ex-Congressman Mark Foley four decades ago is facing new allegations of sexual abuse from another former South Florida altar boy. The latest accuser, identified as "John Doe No. 26" in a lawsuit filed Wednesday, claims the Rev. Anthony Mercieca allegedly performed oral sex on him in the late 1970s at St. James Church in North Miami. At the time, the accuser said he was 12 or 13 years old. Now 40, he says he tried to push away the priest. He alleges the incident occurred in the bell tower of the parish on a Saturday after he had altar-boy practice and had gone on a bike ride with Mercieca. "Afterward, Mercieca instructed John not to tell anyone what he had done," says the Miami-Dade Circuit Court suit, which is seeking more than $10 million from the Archdiocese of Miami. When Mercieca asked him to go for another bike ride, the boy said no and never returned to the church, said his attorney, Jeffrey Herman. Herman said his client came forward because he felt "guilty" about not stopping the priest from possibly abusing other boys. "When he saw that photo [of Mercieca] in the news, he saw there was no more hiding and no more running," Herman said at a press conference to announce the suit. "He had to come forward." The suit accuses Miami archdiocese officials of failing to protect the boy and concealing it from the public. Church officials disputed that claim. "The alleged actions of Father Mercieca were previously unknown to the Archdiocese of Miami," according to a statement issued by spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta. "There were no prior allegations or information to indicate Father Mercieca did or would engage in any type of inappropriate or abusive behavior." Mercieca -- now living on a Mediterranean island -- was pushed into the spotlight a week ago when Foley disclosed his name to Palm Beach County prosecutors as the priest who molested him in the mid-1960s when he was an altar boy at Sacred Heart Church in Lake Worth. Mercieca, 69, could not be reached for a comment on Wednesday. In interviews with news organizations last week from his home on Gozo, near Sicily, Mercieca admitted touching Foley and swimming nude with him while he was a priest at Sacred Heart. Mercieca served there in 1966 and 1967, when Foley was then 12 and 13 years old. In an Oct. 19 interview with CBS' Katie Couric, Mercieca denied he was sexually involved with other minors. "No, never," Mercieca responded when asked. After Sacred Heart, Mercieca worked at six parishes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Mercieca retired from the Miami archdiocese in 2002 and then began serving in the Diocese of Gozo in the Republic of Malta. A group that has brought public scrutiny to cases of clergy sexual abuse said state and federal authorities should open criminal investigations of Mercieca, who has also worked as a priest in Brazil. "We fear he's abused children in all the places he has worked," said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "The safest place for Father Mercieca would be in jail." Mercieca's name became public on Oct. 17 when Foley's lawyer revealed that Foley had been molested as a boy by the clergyman. Foley, 52, a Florida Republican, resigned from Congress last month after the release of his sexually explicit computer messages to young male pages. On Friday, the Miami archdiocese relieved Mercieca of all his duties after officially learning the priest's identity. The archdiocese launched an investigation of the allegations against Mercieca, who cannot celebrate a public Mass, administer sacraments or wear his cleric's collar. Mercieca remains under the authority of the Miami archdiocese because he has not formally severed his ties with it. In the aftermath of the 2002 nationwide sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, the Miami archdiocese purged more than a dozen active priests, asking most of them to retire or to be put on "administrative leave" pending internal investigations. Mercieca was not among them -- nor was he among those investigated by the Miami-Dade state attorney's office. The Miami archdiocese's lay committee will, however, investigate Foley's and the latest allegations against Mercieca before making a formal recommendation to Archbishop John C. Favalora. Mercieca could face permanent removal from the Catholic ministry. Agosta said archdiocese officials have been in contact with Palm Beach prosecutors and the bishop of the Gozo diocese, which started its own investigation. In a statement, the archdiocese said it was "distressed by the revelations disclosed by Father Mercieca regarding former Representative Mark Foley." The archdiocese also issued an apology to Foley "for the hurt he has experienced," and urged any other possible victims of misconduct by Mercieca to contact church officials or law enforcement. See also: Document | The John Doe lawsuit Where Rev. Anthony Mercieca has served
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