Priest admits ties to Foley
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest said he had an inappropriate two-year relationship with former Rep. Mark Foley in the 1960s that included massaging the boy in the nude, but he did not specifically remember having sex, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The Rev. Anthony Mercieca, 72, described several encounters that he said Foley might perceive as sexually inappropriate, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.
They include massaging Foley while the boy was naked, skinny-dipping together at a secluded lake in Lake Worth and being nude in the same room on overnight trips. . . .
Mercieca had worked at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth in 1967, according to church records. Foley would have been 13 at the time.
Mercieca, 72, said he and Foley became fast friends when he moved there from Brazil and "loved each other like brothers," the newspaper reported.
Mercieca said he taught Foley "some wrong things" related to sex, though he wouldn't specify what he meant, the newspaper said. It reported the priest said that at the time, he considered the relationship innocent,
but he now says he could see how his actions could be called inappropriate.
Mercieca said although Foley plans to "expose him to the world," he still has "great memories of our trips," the newspaper reported.
"I wish him well," Mercieca said. "Let bygones be bygones."
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/wash...-10/1161264257241230.xml&storylist=washington
