He was the Chair of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at The Catholic University of America and a visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He was appointed Secretary of the Advisory Committee for the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (C.S.C.O.). In 1953, Skehan was a member of the Dead Sea Scrolls editorial team, along with Frank Moore Cross, John Allegro, John Strugnell, Dominique Barthélemy, Jean Starcky, Claus-Hunno Hunziger, Josef T. Milik, and Roland de Vaux who was the project director. He was ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church.