Ex-priest says he knows Foley's alleged abuser

[DoYouEverWonder]

October 18, 2006

While former U.S. Congressman Mark Foley now says he'll reveal the name of the priest who allegedly molested him, a disgraced former Lake Worth churchman who took pictures of naked altar boys says he's been aware of the abuse for years.

It's just that he could never tell a soul.

<snip>

Enter Romero's nephew, Lake Worth resident Mike Callahan. As Romero struggled with his own scandal, Callahan bought the priest's North K Street home while the padre moved to LaBelle. Callahan says he was cleaning the attic when a set of 20 disturbing Polaroids turned up in a box.

In several photos, Romero poses nude with sea oats sticking out of his mouth. In some, naked boys swim, sun themselves on the banks of the lake or climb on Romero's motorboat.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/10/18/a2a_jose_col_1018.html?imw=Y

[Zybelline]

1. insider says Foley is singing karaoke

apparently Foley told people in the rehab place he was furious he had planned to go on vacation to Venice

rehab is a place where he can sing karaoke every night believe it or not

they cant treat him because the alcoholism thing is bogus of course

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Is he really in that joint over in Clearwater

that's run by Scientologists?

[JoFerret]

5. Now that IS a scary thought

.

[mcg]

7. Scientology joint or jail?

If you had a choice, which would you pick?

I think I might pick jail.

[JoFerret]

4. karaoke sounds good

"I will survive"?

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Supposedly he's holed up

at a place called Narconon.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Yup.

That's the $cientology place, alright.

[LostinVA]

18. For real??? That's the Scientology place

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. Yep

no kidding.

We had a few threads about it a week or so ago.

[LostinVA]

21. How the heck did I miss this news?

Isn't THAT interesting.

[susanna]

9. Nooooooo...don't diss Gloria! n/t

[JoFerret]

3. from the article

But quickly Romero adds he has talked to the man who allegedly abused the future Republican star.

"I know who did it," said Romero, a world-renown miniature-boat builder who now, believe it or not, has been hosting Vietnamese foreign exchange high schoolers in his double-wide. "But I can't say. Priests are not allowed to break the sacred seal of confession!"

A local Catholic Church source said that, even if he is no longer a priest, Romero is bound to the secret of the confessional until he dies.

[OnyxCollie]

10. "A world-renown miniature-boat builder"

And he lives in a double-wide? Imagine that.

[vanboggie]

11. But, but, Maybe it's not the priest's FAULT

Maybe he was molested as a child himself. :sarcasm:

[LostinVA]

16. Ooooh! Good point!

[Eurobabe]

23. no it was the alcohol's fault

[vanboggie]

35. Yeah, the party of personal responsibility - Bu$hit n/t

[Marie26]

36. Official excuse

Folks, we now have the official excuse: The priest says that he was taking "prescription medications" and going through a nervous breakdown at the time, so he can't really remember or admit to anything.

[KansDem]

37. He should have my health insurance

The priest says that he was taking "prescription medications"...

He wouldn't be able to afford prescription medications, hence, no problems...

[mhatrw]

12. Wow! What a character witness!

:eyes:

Why doesn't the headline read "Disgraced Priest Backs Foleys' Excuse"?

[Irreverend IX]

13. Has the _name_ of the alleged abuser been released yet?

What cemetary does he reside in?

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Supposedly he no longer lives in the US

My guess is he's one of those pedophile priests that got hidden safely away in the Vatican.

[LostinVA]

17. My guess is Foley will be accusing an innocent person

Or, at least someone who did nothing to HIM.

[DoYouEverWonder]

19. They've had plenty of time to seach the church records

to find an already accused priest, who happened to be at the same chuch at the same time has Foley, who they could pin the blame on.

[LostinVA]

22. Bingo -- that's what I was thinking last night

[sugapablo]

15. Just a little "Red Hot Catholic Love"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Catholic_Love

[sabra]

24. Priest tells of Foley relationship

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/NEWS/610190725/1006/SPORTS

Priest tells of Foley relationship
Then-altar boy may have found some things inappropriate

A Catholic priest told the Herald-Tribune on Wednesday about an intimate two-year relationship he had with former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley when the congressman was a teenage altar boy living in Lake Worth.

From his home on the island of Gozo, near Italy, Anthony Mercieca described a series of encounters that he said Foley might perceive as sexually inappropriate.

Among them: massaging Foley while the boy was naked, skinny-dipping together at a secluded lake in Lake Worth and being naked in the same room on overnight trips.

One night, when Mercieca says he was in a drug-induced stupor, there was an incident he says he can't clearly remember that might have gone too far.

...

Those sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mercieca is the priest Foley has claimed sexually abused him.

[Lerkfish]

25. the really weird thing is, the GOP is orchestrating this, and what do

they think it accomplishes? is it now ok to stalk pages?

I just don't get freeper logic.

[HereSince1628]

26. They seem to think pedophilia and homosexuality are contagious.

So, that justifies their war on homosexuality.

It also puts a layer of paint on Foley as a victim ontop of his current coat of criminal striping as a pedophile(though as you correctly point out, that's too thin a coating to cover over the problems of the failure of the GOP to police his inappropriate behavior with pages).

[habitual]

31. there is one good point against that logic

they want desperately to get this outta the news for the next few weeks. It was indeed dying down. This will re-ignite everything and puts it right back on the front pages.. why would they do that? you're right, freeper logic. :shrug:

[TechBear_Seattle]

27. Ok, so an old man living outside the US has been named

Given the tremendous lengths to which the Catholic Church has gone to cover-up exactly this kind of behavior, I find it EXTREMELY unlikely that, within 24 hours of being (allegedly) named, the priest in question would blithely provide a laundry list of shockingly inappropriate behaviors like the one that is being given. It just does not fit; until very recently, the Church was actively threatening excommunication on priests who publicly confessed sins of "inappropriate behavior" with children. Why the sudden (and very, very convenient) change of procedure?

I know this is all still breaking news, but has anyone established that this priest was working in Florida at the time these supposed incidents took place? Has anyone established that this priest actually had contact with Foley and opportunity to engage in these actions? Has anyone been able to look into the independence of the priest in question and verify that he or the Church has not just gotten a huge infusion of cash?

[DoYouEverWonder]

29. I'm sure he will be well rewarded

here on earth.

It costs a lot of money to get someone to come up with that much detail.

In the meantime, if this is true, how many other boys were involved? And why is man still serving has a priest in Gozo, Italy. Is this 'priest' still fooling around with little boys?

[The Stranger]

30. And Foley no doubt will not sue the Church as others have.

Nicely done by the GOP.

[NashVegas]

33. Un_be_lievable

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2431495

[durrrty libby]

28. Mr Foley… Are you saying 2 wrongs make a right?

One nasty ol perv blaming another nasty ol perv?

I thought it was the alcohol

These pukes are so messed up. They all should be put away.
:argh: :hangover: :hurts: :scared:

[Javaman]

32. There are several things that the repukes are going to do with this...

first they will claim it was foley's abuse that caused him to be a pedophile.

then they will use his abuse via the priest to label him gay via abuse rather than him being born that way.

They will hold that up as their proof that someone who is straight can be "turned" gay and they can be "made" straight again.

Regardless of the fact that pedophilia is a mental disorder. That little fact will be conveniently swept under the GOP carpet. All in an attempt to quash all the other pages coming out to testify against these pigs.

Bottom line: foley is a pedophile. It's NOT about being gay. It's about grown men wanting little boys. period.

[poofer]

34. There's NO excuse

There is no excuse for what Foley did any more than when Clinton lied about his misdoing! I am NOT comparing the 2 on what was done, only making a point that the Re-pukes always have an excuse!!