Priest Denies Having Sex With Foley

[sabra]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6158012,00.html

Priest Denies Having Sex With Foley

ROME (AP) - A priest acknowledged Thursday that he used to go naked in saunas with Mark Foley decades ago when the former congressman was a boy in Florida, but denied that the two had sex.

The Rev. Anthony Mercieca, speaking by telephone from his home on the Maltese island of Gozo, said a report in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune about their relationship was ``exaggerated.''

``We were friends and trusted each other as brothers and loved each other as brothers,'' Mercieca said. Asked if their relationship was sexual in nature, the priest replied: ``it wasn't.''

His comments came after the Florida newspaper published a story on Thursday that quoted him as saying in an interview that he had an inappropriate two-year relationship with Foley in the 1960s that included massaging the boy in the nude, but he did not specifically remember having sex.

[BootinUp]

1. Dang, a liberul media!

I'm moving.

[babylonsister]

2. Oh, a real he said/he said! Who ya gonna believe?

:popcorn:

[havocmom]

3. Admitted to naked massages

http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fheraldtribune.com%2Fapps%2Fpbcs.dll%2Farticle%3FAID%3D%2F20061019%2FNEWS%2F610190725

and admitted Foley may have mistaken that as inappropriate.

Gads, aren't priests usually educated men? :eyes:

edite for typo

[truthisfreedom]

10. but can't remember if they were naked crotch massages.

[saigon68]

15. That sounds Romantic

[zreosumgame]

23. sounds to me like that priest trained Mark real good

to be a sexual perdator...and Mark seems to have loved doing it. how soon untill the priest goes into fake rehab too?

[donheld]

29. I thought the Vatican was fake rehab

:shrug:

[savemefromdumbya]

4. Foley still a predator on young boys regardless........

keeping Foley in the headlines up to the election isn't it?

[whistle]

5. Subject Rev. Anthony Mercieca and Tom Foley to polygraphs

...that should tell us who the liar is. BushCo has made it possible for no Habeas Corpus necessary any longer.

[KansDem]

12. Better yet, strap them to waterboards and pour water into their mouths

...until they believe they will drown, all the while asking them over and over "Did you have sex?" Eventually one will say "yes" then you have the guilty party.

Waterboarding: It's all the rage now!

edited for grammar

[saigon68]

17. That would work

NOT

[hippiechick]

6. Define 'sex', please, Mr. Priest ...

:shrug: Just askin' ....

[wtmusic]

9. x-actly

so if Foley massaged nude pages, we're alright then? :shrug:

[BOSSHOG]

11. Ah yes, the cute little spawn of the evangelicals swearing to be virgins

until they marry, then having porn star sex (everything but vaginal intercourse) then telling mommy and daddy and the reverend that they are still virgins.

[SeattleVet]

18. "I did not have sexual relations with that boy,

ex-Representative Foley".

[truthisfreedom]

7. "did not specifically remember having sex." or remember NOT having sex.

because he was hopped up on tranquilizers at the time for a "nervous breakdown."

excuses, puffy stories that leave out the details... that dang librul media is at it again!

[bottomofthehill]

8. Sorry Pervert Priest

You were a thirty + year old man. You can not have a relationship with a 12 or 13 year old boy where you say, `We were friends and trusted each other as brothers and loved each other as brothers,'' Mercieca said. Asked if their relationship was sexual in nature, the priest replied: ``it wasn't.

[Zybelline]

26. too precocious training for the priesthood

why is the Church so hysterical in its hypocritical dogma on homosexuality when honestly the only reason to sign up for priesthood (except in poor countries ) is to be in a convivial club of educated gay men housed in superb real estate

not so different from Foley's Palm Beach habitat

[donheld]

30. Welcome to DU Zybelline

:hi:

[KurtNYC]

13. So "it depends on what the definition of" sex is?

If sex means "vaginal intercourse" then he did not have sex with Mark Foley.

[zbdent]

16. Clinton was using Newt's definition ...

Now, if this priest uses the Republican definition of sex (as they applied to anybody who walked by the fence outside the white house during Clinton's era), then he's really up shit creek ...

[Drifter]

14. Uh Oh ... looks like we get another meaning of ...

what is "is"

Cheers
Drifter

[Marie26]

19. Whatever

This guy is as bad as Foley. Did not "specifically remember" having sex? That's just weasel words so that he isn't, technically, lying. I hope he isn't still practicing as a priest.

[NashVegas]

20. Goodness He Sure Did Change His Mind Fast

Earlier it was "I don't really remember and don't want to" - which is about as close at it comes to admitted it without actually saying the words.

More:

The newspaper reporter ``wrote many things that I didn't say,'' Mercieca, 72, told the AP in Rome. ``He quotes me as saying I had one night stands with him. That's not true,'' said Mercieca, whose voice trembled and sounded feeble at times.

...

He was not quoted in the story as saying they had any ``one night stands.'' However, the newspaper reported that he said there was one night when he was in a drug-induced stupor and he couldn't clearly remember what happened.

[Dogmudgeon]

21. Another distraction

So, is this all about some sleazy, twisted sex, or something worse? If it's just the sex, then Foley and Mercieca will have to face the music by themselves.

Big deal! ... right?

That's exactly what the GOP wants.

The real Big Deal is how the entire GOP Congressional leadership has conspired to sweep this under the rug.

Foley's behavior was small-beer tawdriness; Hastert and his cronies committed the real crime. And the same thing can be said, if in different contexts, about the Catholic church and other religious organizations for their own cover-ups. Pedophilia and sexual advantage-taking are nasty crimes in and of themselves; but running a long-term cover-up and providing a fertile ground for their development is of a greater order of magnitude.

Shame on Foley; and prison for Hastert & Co.

--p!

[kurth]

22. Maybe they were just comparing penis sizes

for educational purposes, of course.

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. I'm going to get whiplash

if this story flips around much more.

Even if didn't do it with Foley, it makes you wonder how many other boys did he like to invite to his sauna?

[SemperEadem]

25. Foley can dredge up 1,000 people to blame

but the fact remains that HE chose to engage in inapprorpriate behavior with minors and the law is too clear on this being a crime. Anyone who engaged in covering up what they knew about him preying on minor pages or failing in their duty to protect the minor is guilty of being complicit in the abuse.

[Gin]

27. this good catholic priest is "conveniently" located now......on the

Maltese island of Gozo!!!???? doing his god's work no doubt!

[shrike]

28. Don't coaches and trainers share locker rooms with their athletes

Get naked, take showers and saunas, all that stuff?

I'm not saying this priest is innocent -- he may have molested other children, which makes him an easy target. This is all a little too convenient, a way to take heat off Foley and thereby the GOP. And appeal to some anti-Catholic prejudices: remember, the Klan and the Know-nothings hated blacks, jews AND catholics.

A few years ago I would have laughed at my own assertions, but now I think these people may be capable of anything, including setting Foley up as a victim in this whole case.