Audit Dodging Priests (USA)

Church officials tapped one of two priests now accused of mishandling $8.7 million in offertory money to lead St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church even as they were uncovering evidence of misappropriated money at his former parish, documents show.

An internal diocesan audit dated Aug. 31, 2003, among court evidence released Thursday revealed problems with the way collection plate money was tracked at a Palm Beach Gardens parish headed by the Rev. Francis B. Guinan, who was arrested last year along with the Rev. John A Skehan on grand theft charges.

Former priests accused

Former Delray priests Francis Guinan and John A. Skehan (pic'd above) are accused of misappropriating $8.6 million from their church.

Guinan and Skehan now are accused of stealing hundreds of thousands in offertory money in one of the biggest financial scandals in the modern history of the Catholic Church.

Although some of the money appears to have gone to church needs, even though it circumvented diocesan financial accountability, bank records show the priests spent thousands on gambling trips, lavish condos and gifts for their girlfriends.

Guinan spent years dodging church audits, records show.

"On a personal note, I cannot help but feel offended that after 37 years of service to the church in South Florida, the past 16 years as Pastor of St. Patrick, I have to be subjected to an audit that is now being conducted," Guinan wrote to Bishop Gerald Barbarito in a letter dated Oct. 10, 2003, a month after taking over at St. Vincent.

"May I be so crude as to ask you to 'call off the dogs.' "

It wasn't the first time he had appealed to the diocese to stop the inquiries.

When a group of St. Patrick parishioners asked for an accounting of the offertory money in 1994, top diocesan officials told the group there was nothing wrong with Guinan's bookkeeping.

Church officials had decided to look into his accounting practices in 2003, when an audit revealed questionable payments. The internal audit, church officials' statements to police and confidential diocesan letters were among more than 1,000 pages of documents released Thursday.

"We are not going to comment based on the ongoing investigation," diocesan spokeswoman Alexis Walkenstein said.

Memos and letters circulated within the diocese show church officials were uncovering questionable accounting practices at St. Patrick two years before an April 2005 anonymous letter triggered a police investigation of Guinan and Skehan.

Rather than alert the police to the accounting problems at St. Patrick in 2003, the diocese permitted Guinan to take over at St. Vincent, where investigators now estimate he made off with more than $300,000 in less than two years, according to statements by Denis Hamel, the diocese's financial administrator.

Hamel told police the accounting problems at St. Patrick "probably did not get the full consideration it would have under normal circumstances," according to a police report.

At the time, the new bishop, Barbarito, was trying to soothe parishioners' unrest after the ouster of two successive bishops who were among those implicated in the sex scandal that rocked the Catholic Church nationwide.

But the questions about money mishandling wouldn't go away.

A July 21, 2005, memo Hamel sent to the diocesan vicar general, the Rev. Charles Notabartolo, outlines evidence of misappropriation at St. Vincent and adds: "The information in this report is limited to St. Vincent Parish only, notwithstanding our knowledge that similar patterns of activity existed at St. Patrick Parish."

"For example," he continues, "we are aware that brokerage account balances at the same Smith Barney office as cited herein were not received by St. Patrick Parish upon liquidation of the account in 2003."

Hamel also urged Notabartolo to contract a forensic auditor to assess "the extent of this matter" so that the diocese could "prepare our case for possible civil litigation" and insurance claims.

Guinan blocked the St. Vincent audit for eight months after he took over from longtime friend Skehan.

"I respectfully request consideration and elimination of the policy of conducting financial audits of parishes," Guinan wrote in the Oct. 10, 2003, letter to Barbarito. He went on to outline the need for informing lay people about the importance of priests to the church.

"They devote their lives to the church with little thought for personal gain," he wrote. "They have earned and deserve trust, at least until it is proven otherwise."

In his reply, Barbarito defended diocesan audits and assured Guinan they weren't meant as insults.

"I take your observations quite seriously. I wish to assure you that whatever audits that are conducted within this diocese are carried out in a spirit that is thorough but practical and respecting the integrity of every individual involved," Barbarito wrote.

"Certainly, I have the highest regard for all of our priests and religious. I agree completely with your statement that they are central to the mission of the Church and their integrity cannot in any way be questioned."

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