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	Alleged Victim of Priest Who Fondled Foley Sues Miami Archdiocese By Jay Weaver Miami Herald [Florida] October 25, 2006 http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/15844400.htm A Catholic priest who admitted fondling former Congressman Mark Foley four decades ago has another alleged victim: A former altar boy who will sue the Archdiocese of Miami today. The accuser, identified as "John Doe No. 26" in his lawsuit, 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 between 12 and 13. Now 40, he alleges the sex-abuse incident occurred in a room at the parish on a Saturday after altar boy practice and a bike ride with Mercieca, according to his lawyer, Jeffrey Herman. "The priest told him not to talk about it with anyone," said Herman, who is holding a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today at his law office in Aventura. When Mercieca asked him on another occasion to go for another bike ride, the boy said no and never returned to the church, he said. Mercieca -- now living on a Mediterranean island -- was pushed into the spotlight of scandal 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. In interviews with a handful of news organizations last week from his home on Gozo, near Sicily, Mercieca, 69, admitted touching Foley and swimming nude with him while he was a priest at Sacred Heart. Mercieca served there between 1966 and 1967, when Foley was then 12 and 13. In an Oct. 19 broadcast interview with CBS' Katie Couric, Mercieca denied he was sexually involved with any other minor. "No, never," Mercieca responded when asked by Couric. After Sacred Heart, Mercieca worked at six parishes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Mercieca retired from the Miami Archdiocese in 2002 and began serving in the Diocese of Gozo in the Republic of Malta. Mercieca could not be reached for comment about the lawsuit. Foley, 52, a Florida Republican, resigned from Congress last month after the release of his sexually explicit computer messages to young male pages on Capitol Hill. Afterward, Foley's lawyer said Foley was an alcoholic and had been molested as a boy by a clergyman -- but his name was not disclosed to Palm Beach authorities until last Wednesday. 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. Church officials said they were not aware of any previous sexual-abuse complaints brought against Mercieca. Mercieca remains under the authority of the Miami Archdiocese because he has not formally severed his ties with it since officially joining its ranks in 1978. "There was nothing in his personnel file -- nothing that would have tipped us off," archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said on Friday. "This caught everybody by surprise." 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. Agosta declined to comment on the latest allegations today because she had not seen the lawsuit, which was to be filed this morning in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The Miami Archdiocese's lay committee will, however, investigate Foley'sallegations 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 Rep. Mark Foley." "Such behavior is morally reprehensible, canonically criminal and inexcusable. The events described are totally contrary to the ministry of a priest." 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. Herman, the attorney, said that was among the reasons his client came forward after all these years. He is seeking unspecified damages from the archdiocese, saying it failed to protect him from Mercieca.
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