Seems that he basically kept all the cash given in the collections and never reported it.
Skehan appeared to operate under a system of greed and generosity. He routinely kept $1,000 to $3,000 a week for himself, depending on the size of the collection. But he also gave $100 cash a week to church employees.
The Rev. Thomas Skindeleski, who took over the parish when Guinan was dismissed in 2005, tried to make sense of the scandal in his weekly message posted to parishioners on the church’s Web site.
"I am not trying to minimize any of the wrongdoing that took place, nor cast judgment, either. But so much good was done with the many of ‘misappropriated’ funds that this cannot nor should not be overlooked. From among these funds, several accounts for the benefit of the parish and its school, totaling several millions of dollars were established. Though diocesan procedures were not followed, those endowments or annuities are very financially secure today. What occurred with the remainder will come forth in due time."
Skindeleski added that the parish established a finance council and a parish pastoral council several months ago.
Parishioners responded to the crisis by giving more money.
From Sept. 24 – the week before the revelations about Skehan and Guinan – to Oct. 1, collections rose from $11,000 to $15,000, according to church bulletins.
Concluding his confession, Skehan told detectives he was only now beginning to realize just how enormous a sum he had misappropriated. He also told them he was proud of the fact that there had never been a parish left in better financial shape.
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