By Larry Keller
Palm Beach Post [Delray Beach, Florida]
April 12, 2007
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2007/04/12/s1b_PRIEST_0412.html#msg3
Not only is the Rev. John Skehan charged with misappropriating millions of dollars from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach, but also he was a drunken, obsessed and jealous man, according to a former church employee.
Colleen Head, now 29, began working at the church in her teens and was married there in 2001. Her mother, Terese Duffey, also worked at the church.
Skehan, 79, paid for Head to visit him in his native Ireland in 1999, where he spent summers. In a diary she kept of the trip and turned over to prosecutors, Head described her love of Ireland and her revulsion for Skehan.
 |
| Former Delray priests Francis Guinan (left) and John A. Skehan are accused of misappropriating $8.6 million from their church. |
The priest was a drunken driver, obsessed with her and jealous of her relationship with his nephew, Sean Kennedy, Head wrote in the diary.
"Father Skehan has driven me crazy!" she wrote in one entry. "He is such an ass!"
She wrote that Skehan drove with her one day after having consumed three double scotches, a pint of beer and another scotch.
Another entry: "This road trip is horrible. He drinks and drinks and drinks and then wonders why he can't (expletive) drive."
Skehan was especially obnoxious with women, Head said. "Man, he is a bully, but really a true coward." She said she didn't stand up to him because she feared her mother would lose her job.
Head wrote that she felt like throwing her food at Skehan during meals with him. "He is obsessed with me, looks at me constantly, follows me around like a sick dog. I hate him!!"
Skehan and another priest, Francis Guinan, are awaiting trial on charges they pilfered more than $8 million from the church. They spent money on gambling trips, rare coins and girlfriends, investigators say.
Head, who deposited offertory money, told investigators she knew Skehan kept two sets of books, according to court records. And she told them that Skehan gave her and her mother $1,500 each for not cooperating with diocesan auditors.
She and her mother have been granted immunity from prosecution in return for their cooperation.
Despite years spent as a loyal employee, Head was scathing in her assessment of him during her visit to Ireland.
"He came to me last night and was crying over me and I was repulsed. I had no sympathy for the pig, he can go kiss off. I was afraid for my life last night, prayed to God b/c I know he has some sick fantasy about me being in his cottage. Sean is concerned about me. The whole (expletive) family is."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.