By Jane Musgrave and Eliot Kleinberg
Palm Beach Post
October 1, 2006
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/10/01/a19a_PRIESTS_1001.html
Palm Beach Gardens — In a surprise appearance at Saturday afternoon Mass, Bishop Gerald Barbarito apologized to the congregation of St. Patrick Catholic Church for the alleged behavior of their former priest, who is accused of stealing millions.
The bishop, noting that he himself was a mere teenager 40 years ago when police say money started disappearing from collection plates, emphasized he wasn't apologizing for anything he had done personally. Rather, he said, he was apologizing for any pain Rev. Francis Benedict Guinan and another priest may have caused church members.
"I am the bishop of the diocese, and when there's any misdeeds on the part of priests, and the alleged ones we're looking at, then it's up to me as bishop to apologize," he said.
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| The Revs. Francis Guinan (left) and John A. Skehan |
"We are human and we are going to make mistakes," he continued. "Some mistakes are understandable and some are very hard to understand. These we're looking at today are very hard to understand."
Guinan, 63, and the Rev. John Skehan, 79, were charged last week with misappropriating about $8.6 million during four decades at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach.
Skehan was arrested Wednesday as he returned from a trip to Ireland. He was released from the Palm Beach County Jail at 9:35 p.m. Friday after his family posted a $400,000 bond.
Skehan did not answer his door at 607 N.E. Eighth Ave. in Delray Beach Saturday. "At this time, he's trying to get some rest from the two days he was in custody," said his attorney, Ken Johnson.
Guinan is vacationing in Australia, and authorities are trying to negotiate his surrender. Barbarito has placed both on administrative leave.
So far, the charges against the two, filed by Delray Beach police, have centered on money they allegedly skimmed from the 4,000-member St. Vincent Ferrer. In 2003, Guinan took over for Skehan, who retired after 40 years at the church on George Bush Boulevard.
Authorities have not accused Guinan, whom police described as a heavy drinker and gambler, of stealing money from the Palm Beach Gardens church, where he served as head pastor for 16 years. An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues, church officials said.
However, the Rev. Brian Flanagan told the congregation Saturday that the finances of the church were "a mess" when he replaced Guinan as head of the church on Prosperity Farms Road three years ago.
Ironically, a second offering collected Saturday was part of a special "Debt Reduction" collection that was planned well before the events of the past week.
Flanagan said he has instituted a series of financial controls, with the help of church members. He assured the congregation he would give them the details in writing soon so all can see how church money is handled.
"We want to make sure there's proper stewardship of what you entrusted the church with," Flanagan said.
To that end, he said, no one is being paid in cash anymore.
Delray police said a former bookkeeper at St. Patrick who had an "intimate relationship" with Guinan was paid $47,000 in 2004 from money taken from St. Vincent and put into accounts detectives described as "slush funds." Guinan also used money from the Delray church to pay the woman's credit card bills and her son's tuition at Cardinal Newman High School, a private Catholic school.
Bubs Bergen, a longtime member of St. Patrick, said church members long suspected Guinan's relationship with the woman.
Looking back, he said there were also signs of the financial ills that came to light only last week. Guinan disbanded the Men's Club at the church about 10 years ago, when members questioned him about church finances, Bergen said.
Unlike Skehan, who was beloved in Delray Beach, Bergen said Guinan didn't engender the same feelings. "I respected him as a priest," he said. "But when he left, there was no unhappiness about it."
Jack Kneuer, who ushers at the church with Bergen, said he's tried to imagine what drove his former priest.
"I think it was like a little leak in a dike that got bigger and bigger," he said. "Once he started, there was no way of stopping. He got in too deep."
But, he said, the news has shaken him deeply. He choked back tears as he talked.
"I'm very, very upset," he said. "I hope to God it will never happen again in my lifetime."
Still, other parishioners said, they have survived other scandals. The Diocese of Palm Beach lost two consecutive bishops — in 1999 and in 2002 — who admitted to inappropriate sexual behavior with young men.
Kneuer said he was comforted by Barbarito's words and leadership.
"I thank God that we have him as a leader," he said of the bishop, who was tapped three years ago to head the diocese. "If anyone can handle this, it's him. He's such a brilliant, beautiful person."
Barbarito is to travel to Delray today to offer words of comfort to members of St. Vincent. A statement he wrote, which is posted on the diocesan Web site, is to be read at all Catholic churches in the county today, he said.
In the statement, Barbarito urges church members to be strong.
"As these allegations give rise to grave concern and possible feelings of betrayal and anger, let us remain steadfast in faith and in the sacramental life of the Church knowing that the power of grace is operative at this time."
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