Priest Admits Early "Relationship" with Foley

Here we go. Rev. Anthony Mercieca, now living in Italy, was interviewed by the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune, and spoke of his intimate two-year relationship with Mark Foley -- at the time an altar boy at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth, Florida.

Excerpts from a WaPo article:

Mercieca told the newspaper that he took overnight trips with Foley, skinny-dipped and sat naked in a sauna with him and massaged Foley while the youth was undressed, the article says. Foley was 12 or 13 at the time.

The priest told the newspaper that he believed there was one explicitly sexual encounter with Foley, during an overnight trip when Mercieca was in what he described as a drug-induced stupor.

"I have to confess, I was going through a nervous breakdown," he is quoted as saying. "I was taking pills -- tranquilizers. I used to take them all the time. They affected my mind a little bit."

Good Lord. Just a "little bit?" I thought tranquilizers were meant to calm you down.

There are more juicy tidbits from the Herald-Tribune article:

Mercieca said he taught Foley "some wrong things" related to sex, though he wouldn't specify what he meant. He also said they were naked together in a sauna twice.

Mercieca said that, at the time, he considered his relationship with Foley innocent. But he now says he could see how his actions could be labeled inappropriate.

Aww, come on. "Innocent?" Does he seriously expect anyone to (ahem) swallow that?

hat tip to Paul for the link to the Herald-Tribune article.
Crossposted at Pam’s House Blend