Statement of Bishop Gerald
M. Barbarito
September 28, 2006
We have been informed by the
State Attorney’s office that arrest warrants for grand theft were
issued for Father Frank Guinan and Father John Skehan, and that
Father Skehan has been arrested.
When diocesan officials
received credible evidence against Father Guinan regarding financial
impropriety at St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, which pointed to using
parish monies not in keeping with his priestly ministry, I
immediately withdrew his ability to administer financially the
parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and approved an internal diocesan
investigation, which included an independent audit. The information
gathered in the investigation was turned over to the Delray Beach
Police Department, who had simultaneously received an anonymous
complaint about Father Guinan. The Delray police and the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement launched a separate lengthy
investigation with which we fully cooperated at all times. Because
of evidence uncovered at St. Vincent Ferrer, I also authorized a
forensic investigation at St. Patrick Parish, where Father Guinan
had previously served as pastor.
Credible evidence also
prompted me to initiate a canonical process for Father Guinan’s
removal as pastor. During this process he volunteered to resign and
retire. I accepted his resignation. In the course of the
investigation evidence was then uncovered against Father Skehan,
Father Guinan’s retired predecessor at St. Vincent Ferrer. Because
of the ongoing nature of the criminal investigation I will not
elaborate further on the specifics of the case, except to say that
we intend to continue to cooperate fully and to fulfill the
requirements of justice.
I wish to assure all that,
independent of this matter, a policy of regular biennial audits of
every diocesan entity and a system for the handling of parish funds
were established during the past three years. Parishes are required
to follow these policies. While no policies can totally prevent
financial improprieties, especially in cases of collusion, the
current policies and procedures are intended to prevent future
improprieties such as those that have been alleged.
Until such time as this
matter is concluded in the criminal courts, Fathers Guinan and
Skehan are being placed on administrative leave and will not have
permission to exercise publicly their priestly ministry. Upon the
conclusion of the criminal process, their canonical status will be
reviewed.
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.
I ask for your prayers for
the parish communities of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Patrick’s, for
our diocese, as well as for Fathers Guinan and Skehan.
May God bless you.
Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito
Statement by Denis Hamel
Chief Financial Officer
I am Denis Hamel, CFO of the
Diocese of Palm Beach and I would like to take a few minutes to
build on Bishop Barbarito’s statement.
With respect to the
circumstances of this case, each of these pastors had been in their
respective parish assignments for many years. It had been the policy
of Diocese of Palm Beach to perform an internal audit of the parish
finances upon the pastor’s reassignment or retirement.
However, this policy was
deemed to be insufficient particularly in cases of extended
assignments. Our diocesan Financial Office had no opportunity to
conduct any audit unless specifically requested by the pastor. In
these cases we had to rely on the good faith and efforts of the
parish finance council to provide such oversight of compliance with
diocesan policies and procedures and standards of good internal
control.
Under the direction and
guidance of Bishop Barbarito a committee was formed in 2004 to
examine alternative policies to provide for appropriate
accountability and transparency with respect to the financial
affairs of our parishes, missions, schools and all entities of the
diocese.
Our goal was to foster the
trust of the faithful and demonstrate that all members of the
diocesan community could serve as trust-worthy stewards of the
financial gifts provided us.
Effective July 1, 2005, our
Diocese initiated a policy of requiring biennial audits of all
diocesan entities. These agreed upon procedures engagements are
designed to test compliance with policies and procedures and insure
that internal controls at each location are adequate to safeguard
the financial assets of the church or school.
Another aspect of this
program is that these every two year reviews are conducted not by
diocesan personnel but rather by independent outside accounting
firms. The resulting reports are provided the respective pastor or
principal as well as diocesan staff including the Audit Committee of
the diocesan Finance Council. There is a formal process for
addressing any weaknesses and recommendations.
It is important to recognize
that the acts which Fr. Guinan and Fr. Skehan are alleged to have
engaged in would have been committed prior to the initiation of this
policy. Certainly, the Diocese recognized that collection and count
of weekly offertory at our churches represented activity which
required particular care. In 2003, Bishop Barbarito promulgated a
policy which sets forth best practices for the collection and count
of weekly offertory. It is a comprehensive and detailed approach to
this critical money function which establishes appropriate internal
controls and segregation of duties. The text of all applicable
policies is available on our website at
www.diocesepb.org.
As Bishop Barbarito
indicated, when we received credible evidence of potential wrong
doing, the diocese acted responsibly and immediately engaged our
outside accounting firm to investigate the allegations. Our
preliminary findings suggested that the investigation would require
specialists and we then engaged a noted forensic accounting firm to
thoroughly review the financial activity at the respective parishes
going back several years. During the entire course of this forensic
audit, which has extended for approximately 12 months, we provided
our findings to law enforcement officials and fully cooperated in
every other way with their investigation.
Simultaneously, the Diocese
has been working with our fidelity insurance carrier in an effort to
recover the funds which belong to these two fine parishes. That
process continues today.
This is truly a sad day for
our diocese as we contemplate the possible breach of trust that so
many worked so hard to achieve and maintain. We will continue to be
resolute however in properly controlling the financial gifts we are
provided. |
