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	Scandalized Delray Beach Parish Hasn't Shaken Financial Problems By Lona O'Connor Palm Beach Post December 6, 2009 http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/scandalized-delray-beach-parish-hasn-t-shaken-financial-102547.html DELRAY BEACH — Seven months after two Catholic priests went to prison for stealing from their parishioners, and three years after a church official said at least $4 million of the missing money had been restored, a once-wealthy parish is in financial trouble. On Sept. 29, the Rev. Thomas Skindeleski wrote to parishioners of St. Vincent Ferrer that he needed more money from them to cover the annual Diocesan Appeal, in which each parish in the five-county Catholic diocese contributes a percentage of its income to support its social service agencies. "We can no longer continue to count on funds from our already depleted operating and investment accounts to meet our needs," wrote Skindeleski, the parish's pastor. He went on to say that the parish would reduce office hours and staff, and freeze salaries and hiring. A St. Vincent Ferrer financial statement shows the church's total revenue to be down, from $2.6 million in 2008 to $1.7 million in 2009. Meanwhile, expenses are up $66,787 year over year. Some parishioners said Skindeleski made a tough but necessary call. Others reacted to his announcement with puzzlement and suspicion, some even taking shots at the priest by electronically distributing an anonymous "Scandal'eski Sheet" newsletter. Parishoners recalled that immediately after the Revs. John Skehan and Francis Guinan were arrested in 2006, Skindeleski had written to parishioners, reassuring them that about $4 million of the $8.6 million that police said the two priests had stolen during a 43-year period was safely back in the parish's accounts. If $4 million was returned, they wanted to know where it had gone. Skindeleski's September letter laid much of the financial blame on a soft economy. Despite the shortage, the imprisoned Skehan's coin collection, once valued at $381,000, is still sitting in the evidence locker at the Delray Beach Police Department, six months after a judge ordered it returned to St. Vincent Ferrer. A police official said Skindeleski called three weeks ago to say he is still looking for a suitable appraiser for the gold, silver and platinum rare coins. Until then, the two men agreed that the safest place for the coins was the evidence locker. "He's in the business of saving souls, not of being Brink's," said Lt. Marc Woods. Meanwhile, two legal cases are seeking to breach what critics consider financial secrecy at St. Vincent and in the Diocese of Palm Beach, despite Bishop Gerald Barbarito's 2006 pledge of financial transparency throughout the diocese after Skehan and Guinan were arrested. In October, Paul and Michele Maresca of Boynton Beach sued Skindeleski for expelling their children from St. Vincent School after they questioned the need for a 20 percent tuition increase, to $6,000 a year, and asked for details of the parish finances. Then, in November, Guinan appealed his conviction, arguing that the diocese has no clear system outlining the proper use of money by a parish priest, other than the priest's discretion, as diocesan officials testified at his trial. How much of the misappropriated money was found and how much of that has been spent in the past three years remains unanswered. The diocese refused to comment for this story, citing the two open legal cases. Skindeleski did not respond to a reporter's phone calls. In March, after Skehan pleaded guilty to grand theft, the Rev. Gerald Grace, head of the southern deanery of the Palm Beach Diocese, wrote to Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath that he had found two endowments in accounts with the Smith Barney brokerage. One was for $2 million for the school and the other was $1 million for the parish, both of which Grace "handed over to (Skindeleski) when he took over." A diocesan spokeswoman said this year that St. Vincent parish had received money from an insurance claim, but she did not reveal the amount. A 2009 parish financial statement lists $590,690 in restitution but doesn't identify the source. Skindeleski's spending of $769,000 in 2008 to redecorate a 40-seat perpetual adoration chapel, including artwork he bought in Mexico and Poland, raised eyebrows among some parishioners, who questioned such an expense in the midst of a bad economy and shrinking donations. Skehan had added stained glass and new tile to the chapel in 2002. Skindeleski said an anonymous donor paid for the 2008 renovation. "It is magnificent. It's worthy of the pope," said a former parishioner who asked not to be named because of potential ill will. "But he spent all that money and here I am raising my hand and saying, 'Is anybody asking where the money came from?' " Some parishioners contend that the "anonymous donor" must be Skehan, who delivered about $787,000 in restitution, including the deed to his Singer Island penthouse valued at $366,000, the coin collection once valued at $381,000 and $39,999 in cash. In 2008, the year the chapel was refurbished, church capital expenses were $769,852, but dropped to $292,245 in 2009. The Marescas questioned inconsistencies in parish financial statements, including a 15-fold jump in interest income from 2008 to 2009. The Marescas' attorney said the interest income would be consistent with the addition of $4 million being returned to the parish. But a diocesan spokeswoman wrote in a March e-mail to The Palm Beach Post that the alleged jump in interest income was really money taken out of investment accounts "to augment budget losses." The parish has had difficulty making its pledge for the annual Diocesan Appeal, said Lee Levenson, a deacon who has weathered the Skehan, Guinan and now Skindeleski years at St. Vincent. "We had trouble during the past several years, but this year we are coming closer than ever," Levenson said. "He had to lay off some wonderful people and cut back on others." As of June 2009, the church's annual expenses were $2.49 million, up from $2.08 million in 2006. But revenue was down significantly, to $1.7 million in 2009 from $2.5 million in 2006. During that same period, donations and bequests dropped precipitously, to $84,589 from $680,587. Offertory collections were also down, more than $215,000, in that same time period. These figures represent the church's finances and not the school's. A parishioner told Tom Whatley, the economic-crimes investigator on the Guinan-Skehan case, now retired from the Delray Beach Police Department, that the parish lost 450 families since Guinan and Skehan were arrested. But he thinks Skehan's supporters might be withholding their money. "You have to look at it this way, they're doing their little protest," Whatley said . The Marescas' lawsuit, the Guinan legal appeal and parishioners' doubts also point to the pledge of financial transparency made by Barbarito in 2006. Catholic religious law says only that spending is at the discretion of the pastor, with the guidance of his bishop. "The system is flawed. I said this all along," Whatley said . Skehan's famously endearing personality made it hard for his supporters to condemn him, said Levenson, adding that some people continue to blame Skindeleski for the parish's ills rather than admit that Skehan might have been a thief. "Tom Skindeleski inherited a big bag of worms here," said Levenson. "I reject any allegations of malfeasance on Father Skindeleski's part." St. Vincent Ferrer's bottom line Revenue and support 2009 2006 Offertory collection $943,668 $1,160,534 Donations and bequests $84,589 $680,587 Total revenue and support $1,701,956 $2,523,044 Functional expenses 2009 2006 Church $628,468 $329,071 Parish programs/ministries $436,697 $367,225 Administrative $444,399 $347,382 Total $2,492,229 $2,086,931 2009 2006 Increase/(decrease) net assets ($790,273) $436,113 Gain/(loss) on investments ($223,158) $115,012 Restitution proceeds $590,690 ---- Increase/(decrease) net assets ($422,741) $1,701,125
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