Former Florida Congressman Mark Foley Talks of Liason with Priest
Former Florida Congressman Mark Foley appears to link the Reverend Anthony Mercieca as his bridge into the homosexual lifestyle. The Washington Post`s Howard Schneider and Debbi Wilgoren write that the Reverend Anthony Mercieca stated in a telephone interview from the Maltese island of Gozo that ``he was surprised that his long-ago interaction with Foley had become linked to the
scandal that erupted last month and cost the former Congressman his job.`` At eleven or twelve in the middle of the 1960s- Mark Foley
served as an
alter boy at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth, Florida while Mercieca served there in the priesthood. The Washington Post cites the Sarasota Hearld-Tribune as the source that stated that Foley`s family named Mercieca as the clergyman linked to the Foley scandal. After resigning from Congress- Foley enrolled in an alcohol rehabilitation program. He admitted being gay and alleged that as a youth- he served as an alter boy and that during this
time in his life- he suffered through sexual abuse. In an interview Mercieca said that- ``During at least one encounter with Foley- `I was a little out of myself.` He attributes his actions at that time to his use of tranquilzers from what the Sarasota Hearald-Tribune called a nervous breakdown. Mercieca said that- `The whole idea is. . .that I did something that he did not like, but at the time he did not say anything.`
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