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	Gozo Priest Case Prominent in International Media Malta Media News [Washington DC] October 21, 2006 http://www.maltamedia.com/news/2005/ln/article_12008.shtml Events took a new face in the Mercieca-Foley abuse case after the priest reportedly admitted sitting in saunas and giving massages to Rep. Mark Foley when he was a teenager. The case of the alleged "inappropriate" relationship between former United States Republican Congressman Mark Foley in Florida and Fr. Anthony Mercieca, a Gozitan resident around 40 years ago is being given prominence in international media. The Diocese of Gozo is investigating the case. On Saturday Associated Press and CNN reported that indeed the Archdiocese of Miami has asked priests at eight Florida churches to speak with parishioners about whether a retired Catholic priest accused of molesting former Rep. Mark Foley may have molested anyone else. The archdiocese also barred the Rev. Anthony Mercieca from all church work while it investigates the allegations. "Such behavior is morally reprehensible, canonically criminal and inexcusable," the archdiocese said in a statement, according to Associated Press. Archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said pastors at each of the churches where Mercieca worked between 1965 and 2002 will talk to parishioners to uncover any other accusations against him. Mercieca, 69, now lives in Malta in the Mediterranean, where church officials opened an investigation after he admitted fondling Foley and being naked in saunas with him when Foley was a boy in the 1960s. Foley, 52, resigned from Congress last month after the release of sexually explicit computer messages he sent to teenage male pages. His lawyers later acknowledged he was gay and said Foley had been molested as a boy by a clergyman. Agosta said Foley should speak to church officials to help the investigation. She said if the allegations are true, Mercieca could be forced from the priesthood. "An apology is due to Mr. Foley for the hurt he has experienced," the archdiocese's statement said. Mercieca, who lives on the Maltese island of Gozo, has denied having sexual intercourse with Foley, but has given different details about the encounters in interviews. In turn Spotlight News also reported Mercieca saying that "We used to do, like the athletes, you know; he'll stay with his towel on and go on the bench and I will massage his neck and his back." Spotlight News further reported that the priest, who now works at a church in Gozo in Malta, added that he does not understand why Foley raised allegations of abuse. "For 40 years it didn't bother him, now how come it bothers him?" Mercieca explained that he has no good memories of what exactly happened that day and that the only thing he recalls is taking pills and alcohol to overcome a nervous breakdown. "That's what I can't remember. And I guess that's what maybe Mark is thinking that was something bad," Mercieca told Associated Press. Rev. Anthony Mercieca was a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth in 1966 and 1967, when Foley was a teenager and one of the altar boys. Mark Foley is one of the best known American politicians who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida. Foley resigned from Congress on September 29, 2006 as allegations surfaced that he had sent sexually explicit instant messages to male Congressional pages and former pages, including some who were minors.
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