Father Anthony Mercieca
Archdiocese of Miami
Ordained: 1962
Removed: 2006
Assignment History:
- 1962-1965: Unknown parish(es) in Brazil
- 1965-1967: Sacred Heart Church (Lake Worth, FL)
- 1967-1969: St. Clare’s (North Palm Beach, FL)
- 1969-1973: St. Coleman’s (Pompano Beach, FL0
- 1973-1975: Sacred Heart (Homestead, FL)
- 1975-1985: St. James Church (North Miami, FL)
- 1985-1987: St. Ambrose (Deerfield Beach, FL)
- 1987-1993: St. Henry (Pompano Beach, FL)
- 1993-2002: Blessed Trinity (Miami Springs, FL)
- 2005: Sponsorship Program, Christian Child Care International (Port-au-Prince, Haiti)
- 2005-2006: St. Mary’s Cathedral (Victoria, Malta)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father Anthony Mercieca:
Fr. Anthony Mercieca was ordained in 1962. Between 1962-1965 he worked in unknown parishes in Brazil. Then in 1965, Mercieca started his career in South Florida.
In 2006, Mercieca admitted that he fondled the young altar boy in the mid-1960s. The minor was 13-15 years old at Sacred Heart Church in Lake Worth, Florida when the priest served there in 1966 and 1967. Mercieca has admitted that during a two-year period, he skinny-dipped with the former altar boy, gave him nude massages during saunas, and took him on trips to Washington D.C. and New York City. According to media reports, during one of those trips, a single incident of abuse occurred. Mercieca admitted that he might have gone too far with the boy one night while taking drugs and consuming alcohol.
Mercieca’s accuser is a former U.S. Representative for Florida. He sent sexual emails to a male teenager and was forced to resign when the messages were made public. After his resignation, he stated that he had been sexually abused as a boy by a clergyman.
Later in 2006, an accuser filed suit, alleging that Mercieca performed sexual acts on him in the late 1970s when he was a 12- or 13-year-old boy during the time he was a former altar boy at St. James Church in North Miami, Florida. The plaintiff claimed that Mercieca molested him in the church’s bell tower after a bicycle ride together.
As of 2010, Mercieca is living in Gozo.
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