Kid Foley's Nude Rev. Romps Priest Tells of Rubs and Skinny Dips, by Geoff Earle, New York Post, October 20, 2006

Kid Foley's Nude Rev. Romps
Priest Tells of Rubs and Skinny Dips

By Geoff Earle
New York Post
October 20, 2006

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10202006/news/nationalnews/kid_foleys_nude_rev_
_romps_nationalnews_geoff_earle__post_correspondent.htm

October 20, 2006 -- Washington - Disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley's childhood priest has come forward and admitted cavorting nude with the boy and giving him massages.

Father Anthony Mercieca, who is now living on an island off the Italian coast, says he doesn't remember how far things got with Foley - although he does recall skinny-dipping with the then-13-year-old and staying naked in the same room with him on trips.

There is one night with Foley that the priest says he can't even recall.

SINS OF THE FLESH: Former Rep. Mark Foley (above) claims he was sexually abused as a teenager by a priest at a Florida church.

"I have to confess, I was going through a nervous breakdown," he told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "I was taking pills - tranquilizers. I used to take them all the time. They affected my mind a little bit."

The pill-popping priest also says he took naked saunas with the future Florida Republican leader - but didn't seem to think there was anything inappropriate about it.

"Everybody does that," he said.

Sources told the paper that Mercieca is the priest Foley claims abused him as a teen, and that the two had a single sexual encounter when Foley was 12 or 13.

Mercieca, 72, admitted he taught Foley "some wrong things."

But even as he confessed to startling activities with the former altar boy, Mercieca claimed he had never been accused of abuse before, despite serving in many parishes.

"I wish him well," he said of Foley. "Let bygones be bygones."

SINS OF THE FLESH: Former Rep. Mark Foley claims he was sexually abused as a teenager by a priest at this Florida church.

Mercieca served as a priest at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth, Fla., in 1966 and 1967.

He now lives in the Mediterranean island of Gozo, known for its breathtaking scenery, baroque churches and diving.

Foley's attorney has said Foley had been abused by a "clergyman." The claim came after Foley checked himself into rehab, announced he was gay and resigned from Congress when confronted with graphic e-mails he sent to teenage congressional pages.

Critics wondered whether Foley might be claiming abuse to divert attention from his own improprieties. But on Wednesday, Foley's attorney handed over the name of the allegedly abusive clergyman to the FBI.

Mercieca said he didn't have any "one-night stands" with Foley and that the relationship wasn't sexual.

"We were friends and trusted each other as brothers and loved each other as brothers," he said.

Foley's family sometimes had the priests over to their home for dinner - even hosting Mercieca for Christmas once, he said.

The incredible new information surfaced as the House Ethics Committee interviewed Jeff Trandahl, the former House official who oversaw the congressional page program.

The panel also interviewed House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who said he told Speaker Dennis Hastert about a complaint against Foley last spring.

geoff.earle@nypost.com