Priests Deserved Prison Time, Palm Beach Post, March 26, 2009

Priests Deserved Prison Time

Palm Beach Post
March 26, 2009

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2009/03/26/a16a_priests_edit_0326.html

Former Delray Beach priests Francis Guinan (left) and John A. Skehan misappropriated $8.6 million from their church, authorities say.

Both Palm Beach County priests who stole from their parishioners will spend time in prison, as they should. And even though Francis Guinan was found guilty of a lesser crime than John Skehan, Guinan rightly got a much longer term.

Both priests amply helped themselves to money from the collection plate at St. Vincent Ferrer in Delray Beach. How much they took or misappropriated never will be known, but it's more than they're being held accountable for. The statute of limitations got them off the hook for some of the money. Bad record-keeping - exacerbated by the dishonest priests - obscured some of the other thefts.

In the end the 81-year-old Skehan pleaded guilty to grand theft over $100,000 and was sentenced Tuesday to 14 months in prison. The 66-year-old Guinan was convicted last month of grand theft of between $20,000 and $100,000 and was sentenced Wednesday to four years. Among other things, the money went for luxury travel, jewelry and other gifts, and girlfriends.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath was right to send Skehan to prison despite his age; getting away with a crime until you're old isn't a reason to get a free pass. But at least Skehan admitted his guilt. Guinan insisted on a trial and presented a breathtakingly arrogant defense: Because priests work so hard, they get to skim. Circuit Judge Krista Marx summed it up at Guinan's sentencing, calling his actions "unmitigated greed and unmitigated gall."

Even before the men were caught in 2006, the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach County had adopted better auditing practices. That should mitigate some of the distrust Guinan and Skehan created. The prison sentences are the secular world's contribution to restoring faith in honest church finances.