Two priests who worked in the Diocese of Palm Beach have been senteced to prison sentences. Rev. Francis Guinan, 66, was convicted of grand theft in pilfering hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach. Another priest, Rev. John Skehan has also been sentenced to prison time. Both priests have been found guilty of bilking the parish for expensive vacation, trips with girlfriends and extravagant living. Skehan has been sentenced to 14 months in prison whil Guinan received a prison sentence of 4 years.
Remarkably, the Diocese of Palm Beach and supporters of both priests had asked the judge to be lenient in his sentence. One priest friend argued that Guinan had suffered enough and didn’t deserve a prison sentence. This is what disturbs me. Anyone else would have received a harsher sentence and citizens would not have argued for a reduced sentence. Yet, their status as priests, in some people’s view, gives them a license to steal and do whatever they want. This is the saem typ of reaction we get when taking on the Catholic Church in sexual abuse cases. Somehow, because the defendant is a priest, he should be afforded a different set of guidelines when it comes to criminal behavior. The problem lies with the society that excuses criminal behaior on the part of a religious figure, who should be held to a higher stander, not a lower one.