Priest on Trial: The Anatomy of Triumphalism and Clericalism in the Roman Catholic Church (continued)

By John E. McGovern, VOTF Palm Beach president

On average, $6,000 per month for a period of 19 months of expenses on Fr. Guinan’s personal credit card were paid from cash that was supposed to be part of the operating expenses of the church over Fr. Guinan’s “sole” signature. They were paid from cash in a "slush fund" created from cash that was weekly “taken off the top” from the offertory envelopes. These expenses included, but were not limited to:

• Hotel stays in many Las Vegas gambling hotels;

• Airline flights to Ireland, Las Vegas, The Bahamas—tickets for himself and Carol Hagen (a friend of Guinan’s) and, on occasion, Skehan, his predecessor as Pastor of  St. Vincent Ferrer Parish;

• Expensive furniture from Baers;

• Patio furniture for his condo;

• Dinners at expensive restaurants;

• Expensive cigars (usually $250 - $350 per occasion); and,

• the “piece de resistance,” in January '04 expenses totaling $2,172.95 on the credit card of one Carol Hagen his “good friend.”

(2) Under diocesan policy, “the priest (pastor) has discretionary authority” to spend up to $50,000 (no mention of per year, per month etc.) without permission of the diocese; a privilege at the center of the defense case.

When the leadership of VOTF Palm Beach met with Bishop Barbarito last year the Bishop stated that the canonical requirement of a Finance Council is in place within every parish of the diocese. If this were the case, how would a character like Guinan get away with this type of fiscal irresponsibility?

Sitting in the courtroom, I was impressed by a few of the members of St. Vincent's parish who finally “got it” that they had been robbed. I believe that the majority of St. Vincent people have been in denial for quite some time now and have remained purposefully ignorant about the realities of their own situation. Four years ago, when the Diocese announced to the congregation of St. Vincent's that an investigation had been launched and that Fr. Guinan had been removed, the majority of people believed that the matter had been exaggerated by the press and that this was "one more attempt by the press to paint the church in a bad light." This was stated by the pastor also when he finished reading the "official" letter from the Bishop - in a kind of "semi defense" of his fellow priest. That same man is now the pastor of the church and many parishioners have left the church and have moved to a neighboring church in Boynton Beach.

Thinking back to VOTF’s annual conference on fiscal responsibility a few years ago, there was testimony collected by the diocese over the sad state of affairs years ago at St. Patrick Parish when parishioners tried to "set things right" over Guinan's dealings there. Denis Hamel has known for years that Guinan was a problem. During the trial, Hamel made no mention of the fact that he had been alerted years earlier regarding problems when questioned by the defense as to why he was pressing the issue of the audit at St. Vincent's parish when Skehan was leaving and Guinan was taking over in September 2003 until his removal in March 2005—a period of 19 months. He testified that it was a matter of "transition of the two pastors" and made no mention of the fact that parishioners had been concerned for years about Skehan’s use/misuse of money.

The Forensic Accountant, William Michaelson, testifying for the State, spoke of the comparison between the cash position of the parish during Guinan ‘s 19 month tenure compared to the 15 month "post Guinan" period in order to estimate the amount of cash that "disappeared" under Guinan. Comparing the two periods, Michaelson stated that, on average, there was a $19,596 PER MONTH difference in the cash position of the parish between the two periods. In other words, on average, Guinan was siphoning off that amount of "cash" per month to a "slush fund" in order to conceal from the diocese the true cash position of the parish.

The same situation persisted under Skehan with one exception: Skehan was hiding cash and placing it in accounts which he was using either for himself (on a very minimal scale compared to Guinan) or for "charitable" purposes. One "slush fund" under Skehan—referred to as “Slush Fund #3”—was used by him to pay a retired church employee, who was already collecting a pension from the diocese, another "cash pension" exceeding $100,000 over a period of several years.

 Guinan, on the other hand, was putting the money into his own pockets. He put an end to paying "cash bonuses" three times per year to rectory employees. The parish bookkeepers who testified stated clearly that there was a "difference" between the way Skehan was treating cash and the way Guinan did.

While their intentions were different, the effects of their actions were the same. Cash was never reported to the diocese. "Week after week after week" cash in collections was "taken off the top" and not reported to the diocese and – as reported in the paper today - "the female spokesperson for the diocese winced" when she heard this evidence. Of special mention, Skehan continued to live in the rectory following his retirement and "continued to sign checks" in some instances. If the diocese was conducting oversight I do not understand how this could have been happening.

The State rested it case after playing for the jury the taped conversation between Florida FDLE (the Florida version of the FBI) and Guinan (who was in Australia at the time) urging him to return as soon as possible to the United States and face arrest. He returned several weeks later.

VOTF's insistence on parish finance councils having "real authority" could not be timelier. I think the Diocese of Palm Beach is not going to look very good when this is all over. The entire defense case will rest on discrediting the way the diocese conducts oversight of parish fiscal management.

Editors Note: Since John wrote this article, a verdict of guilty was delivered against Father Guinan. We will have John’s follow up in the next issue of In the Vineyard.