Report: Priest Admits Foley Relationship

[sugapablo]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESSMAN_E_MAILS?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=home.htm

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 said there was one night when he was in a drug-induced stupor and there was an incident but he couldn't clearly remember, the newspaper reported.

"I have to confess, I was going through a nervous breakdown," the newspaper reported Mercieca as saying from his home on the island of Gozo, south of Italy. "I was taking pills - tranquilizers. I used to take them all the time. They affected my mind a little bit."

The excuses never stop! :banghead:



Edit: just needed to close the DIV better.

[Fierce]

1. I can't express my disgust for the Catholic Church

and what it's allowed itself to become.

[BootinUp]

12. Question

Don't you think its always had this problem, just unpublicized?

[Fierce]

19. Absolutely.

When I say "what it's become," I mean that not only was it a whited sepulchre, it's now a whited sepulchre and everyone knows it and it resists any attempt at reform.

[ShortnFiery]

2. All these *excuses* remind me of South Park last night - true true n/t

[sugapablo]

3. nice. :) n/t

[Theres-a]

4. It's irrelevant. Survivor or not

FOLEY IS A CRIMINAL!

[rodeodance]

7. i will not call him a criminal until a court of law says so. We are in

America. Having said this--the facts/evidience is seductive at the moment.

[Theres-a]

27. You're right

Let the jury decide.It does look bad,but I could be wrong.

[acmavm]

5. This just pisses me off beyond belief. And this is the type of

person that is supposed to 'forgive sins' and preach (lecture) you on how you are supposed to live your life. Screw that.

This does nothing to mitigate Foley's guilt. He's still a predator and a pederast.

[truthisfreedom]

6. what a bizarre tale. "an incident he couldn't clearly remember."

tranquilizers. "they affected my mind a little bit."

"might perceive as sexually inappropriate."

so the FBI is concluding that Foley didn't quite have inappropriate contact with minors, and this priest is saying that he didn't quite have sexually inappropriate contact with Foley as a young child.

and the Democrats are not quite going to have enough votes in Ohio because blackwell purged just enough of them from the voter rolls...

and it's okay to torture people if you don't quite kill them or cause organ failure.

[Beetwasher]

8. So, Let Me Get This Straight: The Pills Made Him A Pedophile And then

Foley caught it from him? :shrug:

[sugapablo]

10. LOL!

Pedophilia is an STD! Who knew?

[Squatch]

9. He's a FALLGUY.

How much $$$$ is he getting from the GOP to say this and take the heat off of Foley?

[justjones]

16. Exactly. I've never heard a priest so quickly and easily confess....

to committing sexual abuse. I think I smell the vague aroma of bullshit.

[KittyWampus]

28. Thought crossed my mind. How do we even know he's real?

[Zorra]

11. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that pedophilia was so

rampant among the conservatives in this country. I mean, I always knew they were pretty fucked up, but all this is getting way over the top.

If I had a family member that was a republican, I would never let my children be alone with them.

[BootinUp]

13. Makes you wonder

what is it that makes someone turn to pedophilia?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

14. Power is Cover.

Power, or access to power provides cover to those doing wrong. If all we have seen from this incident, the repuke congress in general, the repuke party and associated lobbiests, anon., etc, that is one lesson we cannot escape.

For those who need lots of cover, like habitual sex offenders, is it any wonder about whom they have chosen to associate themselves with?

Remember also that for these who have been able to make use of the cover of power, that has not dissuaded them from making new and far harsher laws that address the very crimes they are engaged in. That tells me that they see such behavior as being the exclusive indulgence of an elite, behavior that must be stamped out, however, in the lumpen proletariat.

Whether it is appropriate or not to stamp out this behavior is not the issue. The issue is power, and what some perceive as a priviledge of same.

Frankly, it points off to a deeply ingrained decadence and a sense of entitlement that harkens back to "droit de seigneur". I wonder if Leo Strauss, when he was giving them their marching orders, knew it would all come to this?

For more insight on this sort of thing, google "Ernst Rohm".

[cali]

15. And that comment should get the stupid award,

I have lots of family members who are republicans. Or rather ex-family members, as I'm divorced. But I still maintain a close relationship with them, and they're some of the finest people you could ever meet.

[progressivebydesign]

18. oddly enough, I have yet to meet a liberal/moderate/dem with those issues.

Seems to me, in my life experience, every single person who has been involved with something of unsavory sexual conduct, has been a raging republican, and usually a devout church-goer. I think the repression gets them, or perhaps people with those tendencies spend a lot of time protesting too much.

[Zorra]

26. Yeah, well, I guess some people think Nazis are wonderful

folks too.

It's all relative.

[cali]

31. Fuck that

it's reflective of remarkably stupid and shallow thinking. Pathetic.

[progressivebydesign]

17. Didn't the right wing call the pages "beasts" who egged Foley on??

So, I expect the same treatment of Foley from those people that blamed the teen pages on Foley's behavior. Oh, and the Priest was having addiction issues with pills, so apparently he has the same excuse that Foley is using.

So.. where are the right wing pigs that accused the teen pages of egging Foley on? Are they calling Foley names? Are they blaming Foley for seducing the priest? Is the priest forgiven by the right wing because he was having substance abuse issues????

I'm waiting.....

[MindPilot]

20. A priest has a "nervous breakdown"?! I call bullshit!!

Is there any job with less stress, responsibility, risk, or accountability than priest?

[BootinUp]

23. hmmm I would caution against assuming

things unless you have walked in their shoes or have talked to them about it.

[LostinVA]

30. Yes, they are -- being a member of the clergy is very stressful and demand

Whether priest, minister, rabbi, Iman, etc. And, all of the others at least have a family to help them out.

[DemoTex]

21. Well, I guess that lets Foley off the hook.

:sarcasm:

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. It's funny that he uses the same excuses as Foley

:rofl:

[Bake]

24. No just No, but HELL NO!

First of all, I think this whole confession smells like week-old fish left out in the sun!

Second of all, SO WHAT? It doesn't excuse Foley's actions. Bad things happen to people all the time, but we are still responsible for our own actions. Foley is still a perv. The Grand Old Pedophile party still covered it up. And there's still going to be hell to pay for it.

Bake

[savemefromdumbya]

25. Foley is still a predator on young boys regardless......

at least this is keeping Foley in the headlines

[MessiahRp]

29. Yeah I raped a child but it's cool because I won't get charged for it

All these child molesters and not a single one of them has been charged. Foley and others in the GOP are outed for what they did to CHILDREN. Not what they did to ADULT GAY MALES.

Yet a single charge has been filed.

Same here. This Priest probably won't even be defrocked because he will never even be charged with this.

If this was any other child molester... primarily one from a poorer part of society, how quick would there be front page headlines and outrage about a child being raped???

Ridiculous.

Rp