CATHOLIC priests normally make it to this blog because of their kiddy-fiddling antics or their anti-gay rants.
Father Skehan lived the life of Reilly on the funds of the faithful - just like the Pope
But Monsignor John Skehan, 81, is here today because he was fiddling the finances in what authorities say could be the one of the biggest embezzlement scandals ever to hit the American Catholic Church.
Originally from Johnstown, Co Kilkenny, Skehan, 81, pleaded guilty just hours before the start of his trial to taking money from his church over the course of several years .
According to this report, Skehan faces charges with fellow priest, the Rev Francis Guinan, originally from Birr, Co Offaly, who has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say the pair took cash from the offering plate at St Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, in West Palm Beach, and stashed it in the church ceiling and in offshore bank accounts.
They then spent the money on expensive homes, gambling trips to Las Vegas with a mistress, even a $275,000 (£200,000) rare coin collection, authorities say.
Both are charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, although church auditors believe the total amount taken could be in the millions.
Police reports say Skehan used $134,075 to pay for his alleged lover’s expenses, gave $11,688 to relatives and used another $268,630 for personal expenses such as dental work and credit card payments.
Authorities said Guinan had had an “intimate relationship” with a former bookkeeper at a church where he previously worked and used church money to pay her credit card bills and her child’s school fees. They also said she accompanied him on holidays.
Skehan had previously pleaded not guilty but changed his plea yesterday.
His lawyer Scott Richardson said:
Father Skehan accepted responsibility for his actions by virtue of his guilty plea. It’s been extraordinarily difficult for him from the beginning.
The scandal broke in 2006, stunning parishioners at the seaside parish. Skehan, who had been at the church for 40 years, is accused of taking $370,000 between 2001 and 2006, the timeframe covered by the statute of limitations. Auditors think he actually stole more than $8 million over 20 years.
Guigan, 66, is accused of stealing $488,000 during the 19 months after he became pastor in Sept 2003. He is due to stand trial on Feb 18.
Skehan will be sentenced on Mar 20. Both face up to 30 years in jail if convicted.
After the investigation began, Guinan begged the church to stop the audit and “call off the dogs”. In a letter released by prosecutors, he said that priests:
Devote their lives to the church with little thought for personal gain.
Richard Barlow, Guinan’s lawyer, said his client had done nothing wrong and that his co-defendant’s plea did not affect his case. He said he would prove Guinan spent the money on church business.
HAT TIP: Paul Edmondson
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I suppose we should be grateful that the money was fairly distributed and did not end up in vatican coffers. Goodness, and I thought my dentist was expensive.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
‘That money was simply resting in my account, Bishop Brennan…’
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
It needs to be made clear whether this priest was under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, or (as intimated in the article) was under the jurisdiction of the “American Catholic Church in the United States”, which is one of the Independent Catholic Churches. http://www.accus.us/
Certainly churches and priests affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, under the Pope in Rome, have plenty enough troubles of their own, but the American Catholic Church in the United States is a different bunch. Good journalism would require this distinction be made clear.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
If they’re not fiddling with young boys, they’re fiddling the books, worra they like?
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Message for Bob aka Eric aka John: You can keep a-knockin’ but you can’t come in. No matter how many times you change your name, we know who you are. Please try to find some other forums (fora?) in which to be abused. This is not a site for masochists who are queer for Jesus.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:42 pm
But that money had been given to god, and as god’s agents weren’t they justified in spending it on whatever they deemed fit? Why is the secular legal system persecuting them this way?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Good point, Buffy. You give money to a church and you are saying to the clergy ‘Fill yer boots’. In this case I suppose you’re saying it in Latin. There is a clue to the Catholic Church’s attitude in the fact that its senior clergy live in sodding great palaces, waited on by servants. Facts can be very instructive, even to the faithful.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I had a dream where bob was allowed one more post to advertise his own blog, which was hilarious. Go on Bob, start up an “anti-freethinker”, with bleating denunciations of all the posts on here (except the anti-islam ones, which you will mysteriously agree with). You know you wanna.