1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Less than twenty four hours after sister Michelle Lewis was 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: found stabbed to death in a Miami convent, investigators were 3 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: successfully closing out the search for her killer. Mikail Looco Fell, 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: a teenage monk in training, admitted how he got drunk 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: and entered her bedroom in the dead of night, then 6 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: stabbed her more than ninety times. As the young Ukrainians 7 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: sat in the homicide department, taking police step by step 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: through his crime, an offer for me, Hilo came in 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: from the lobby. Well. I was being introviewed by the protectives. 10 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: I wanted to take this, interrupted us and says, before 11 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: you say anything else, the priests are here and the 12 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: seven the lawyer to represent you, and I said, I declined. 13 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: I said, I don't want the lawyer. I don't want 14 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: to do with him. Yeah. He turned down that lawyer 15 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: because after confessing to the murder, Mihailo also alleged that 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: those same priests, father Abbot Gregory went and father Damien Gibbold, 17 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: both sexually abused him. A few hours after refusing the lawyer, 18 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: Mihailo was taken into custody without the priest's attorney. He 19 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: was now on his own Intad County jail. He knew 20 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: nothing about the judicial system or what was going to 21 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,040 Speaker 1: happen to him next. Feeling alone and scared, he reached 22 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: out to the only family he had since arriving in 23 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: Miami almost five years earlier, the same priest from Holy Cross. 24 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,119 Speaker 1: But he would find no comfort on the other end. 25 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: So you get, they give this through phone calls. So 26 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: I don't know anybody, you know, I couldn't call nobody. 27 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: So I was scared, and so I called. I just 28 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: called Went. I remember called, weren't you know. It was 29 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: really just this cold conversation. You know, I could tell 30 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: that he was really really angry. I suld find out 31 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: what's going to happen next or something like it says 32 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: something like this, do you realize that you're going to 33 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 1: be executed me? Hailo hung up the phone, feeling more 34 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: solitary than he had before. That short call would be 35 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: the last time he ever spoke to Father Abbot Went 36 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: or anyone from the monastic family at Holy Cross ever. Again. 37 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: I'm Paula Barros and I'm Melanie Bartley, and this is 38 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: sacred scandal. Well, the Young, the Young, and the Committee 39 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: of the murder was in my Spanish class, very distant, 40 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: very you know, just odd um, not a part of anything. Um. 41 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: It was very sad. You could tell that he was 42 00:02:53,120 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: very sad with Nick Nikhilo. He was weird to us. 43 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: He was just an oddball. He was always an oddball. 44 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: He was strange, he walked strange. He just he came 45 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: from somewhere else, and he behaved like he was from 46 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: somewhere else. Yeah. I was a tender friend, and uh, 47 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: you know, I was just I'll be one fitting and 48 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: you know it's yes, went by more and more dissolution. 49 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: When Melanie and I started trying to tell the story 50 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: of Holy Cross Academy more than fifteen years ago, we 51 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: knew we needed to talk with the one person at 52 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: the center of everything, Hailok Fell. Before the murder, he 53 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: was just a quiet, little skinny kid in black clothes 54 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: to me, a boy who sometimes I laughed with when 55 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: we were paired up to struggle through broken converse stations 56 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: in French class. But other than knowing he was from 57 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: Ukraine and that he said he was sexually abused by 58 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: the priests, I really didn't know all that much about him, 59 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: And part of me was always curious about why he 60 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: killed sister Michelle, and I couldn't get my head around 61 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,159 Speaker 1: how a kid I sat next to in class could 62 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 1: commit such a terrible violent crime. So a few years 63 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: after I graduated from Holy Cross, Melanie and I reached 64 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: out to me Halo in hopes of some day getting 65 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: those answers. It all started with a letter, and I 66 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: think the first letter we wrote to him just first 67 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: I get to know him, right, because we were like, 68 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: let's see, and then we ended up just and then 69 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:45,720 Speaker 1: he was like, you were the first, like, this is 70 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: the first letter I've gotten in years, five years, five 71 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 1: years it had been I mean this was like two 72 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: thousand six or something, yeah, five years, five years. And 73 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: then he remembered everything. He remembered You were an actress, Paula, 74 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: and you were sat next to me French, and I 75 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: remember your plays and you remember. And then then for 76 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: a while we're just getting to know him for like 77 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,919 Speaker 1: letters and letters and and remember our moms. Like the 78 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: first time we when we started getting letters from prison, 79 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: oh my god, they were like, what why does his 80 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: murderer have our ad? And who else has our address? Ah? Yeah, 81 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: After sending letters back and forth, we finally decided to 82 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: make a trip about ninety minutes north of Miami to 83 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: visit him in prison. That first visit to Indian Town, Florida, 84 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: when he was at Martin Correctional I was the most 85 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: nervous I've ever been. We would go, we would take 86 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: like our weekend trips and stay at a hotel in Stuart. 87 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: How do we remember? Yeah, how do we have money 88 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: for them? During that visit, he stopped being me Hailo, 89 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: and he asked us to call him Mike, the name 90 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: he started using while in prison. It's a name he 91 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: told us he wanted to be called once in school, 92 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: but the priests wouldn't let him. After that, driving up 93 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: to Indian Town to see Mike became something we did 94 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: maybe every few months. He was nervous and reserved at first, 95 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,359 Speaker 1: but over time he opened up. We got to know 96 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,119 Speaker 1: more about his life and his story during each visit. 97 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: Until that is we got banned from the prison. So, 98 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: being young and amateurs, we may have broken one of 99 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 1: the cardinal rules of correctional facilities, which is, of course, 100 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: don't film or take pictures of the actual prison, And 101 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: that is exactly what we had our camera person do. 102 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: One time. While we were inside, we never got permission 103 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: to film an interview with Mike and thought it would 104 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: be cool to get this really artsy time lapse of 105 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: the clouds rolling over the roof of the prison. But 106 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: when we came out, police and security were all over 107 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: our camera guide. They surround at us and our car. 108 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: They thought we were trying to help break Mike out 109 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: of prison. We were horrified. Once things calmed down, they 110 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: made us delete all the footage right then and there. 111 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: We were banned from the Hailo's visitor list and the 112 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: prison altogether. And because of our mistake, things weren't going 113 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: well on the inside either. But I want to know 114 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: your side, Like what happened to you after? Oh? Yeah, yes, 115 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: so the common name. Yeah, they took me to a room. 116 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: Of course, they searched me and not and then they 117 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: put me a handcuffs, Like what the hell is going on? 118 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: They wouldn't tell me, so yeah, they took me to 119 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: confine me. Yeah, and I remember the next day classification 120 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: obviously came around and uh, she said, soon you're going 121 00:07:54,720 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: to be transferred to another prison. Oh my god. So 122 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: really really the best feeling it really likes? Were you 123 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: upset at us. Oh, no, of course not, it's not something. Yeah, 124 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: of course not. Yeah, you definitely didn't know, and yeah, 125 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 1: you didn't know the rules. Yeah. We scrambled. Over the 126 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: next few days, we submitted an apology to the warden 127 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: with a packet of information and even a DVD of 128 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: the movie trailer. We hoped explaining our project would help 129 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: get him out of the confinement area. After eight days, 130 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: Mike was sent back to his regular block. We felt 131 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: horrible after the whole thing. Losing direct contact with him 132 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: is one of the things that really stopped us from 133 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,960 Speaker 1: working in our documentary. But worse than that, Paula and 134 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: I also knew that we were the only people who 135 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,439 Speaker 1: ever came to see him. We started to feel this 136 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: sense of compassion for him, like we were the only 137 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,559 Speaker 1: people in his life, and after so many visits, we 138 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,839 Speaker 1: felt like we couldn't just a peer on him. Since 139 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: getting banned all of those years ago, both of us 140 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: have continued to keep in touch through snail mall and 141 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: the phone at first, and now in a different time, 142 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,719 Speaker 1: through lots of email and sometimes video grams. Mike is 143 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 1: very much a part of our lives and getting his 144 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: perspective on what happened to him at Holy Cross and 145 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: what he witnessed there kept us motivated to tell his story, 146 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: and this year we actually started recording those calls as 147 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: he walked us through everything that happened. Hello, this is 148 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: a prepaid call from an inmate at a Florida Department 149 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: of Corrections institution. Hello, Hey, Hi, Yes, I'm not sure 150 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 1: what happened. And these conversations aren't easy. Our phone calls 151 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,959 Speaker 1: are capped at thirty minutes, so sometimes we just started 152 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: getting really into talking about something, only to be interrupted 153 00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: by a one minute warning. You have one minute, We've 154 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: and after that we can't even jump back into the 155 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: conversation straight away because we have to wait another thirty 156 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: minutes between calls. Sometimes it can take days to even 157 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: finish a single conversation, So I guess I'll call it tomorrow. Tomorrow. 158 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 1: On the inside, from Mike, there's more to worry about. 159 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: We talk about some really personal and sensitive stuff on 160 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: these calls, things you might not want just anyone to hear. 161 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: He talks to us from a bank of shared phones 162 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: where the next person over can hear your every word. 163 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: In the morning, it's probably really, really hard. We try 164 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: talking early in the day, which is better for recording 165 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: because there's less noise from the block, but morning calls 166 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: make Mike uncomfortable in the empty hallways. His voice echoes 167 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,559 Speaker 1: through the quiet for everyone to hear, so a lot 168 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,079 Speaker 1: of the time we talk later in the day, when 169 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: the sounds of daily life in prison mute. His words 170 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: to their inmates. Thank you for using Global crow Link. 171 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 1: Before we go any further, Yes, Mike is a confessed 172 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: murderer who brutally stabs someone to death. But the person 173 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,839 Speaker 1: we've gotten to know over the years is more complicated 174 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: than that single act. We'd like you to get to 175 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: know Mike and the way we have, so for the 176 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: rest of this episode, we'll be sharing some of our 177 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,120 Speaker 1: conversations with him to explain how a boy from a 178 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: rural mountain village in Ukraine and others like him found 179 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: themselves at a monastery in the suburbs of Miami. That 180 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: story after a break, stay with us. Welcome back to 181 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: Sacred Scandal. Mihailo Kofel story starts in the early nineteen eighties, 182 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: far from the beaches of Miami. It starts far from 183 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 1: any beach, really. His story begins in one of the 184 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: most inland parts of Europe. A region of Ukraine in 185 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:22,079 Speaker 1: the Carpathian Mountains called Zacarpatia or trans Carpathia. It's an 186 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 1: area that used to be part of the Kingdom of 187 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: Hungary and then Czechoslovakia, but it was absorbed into the 188 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: Soviet Union during the Red Armies occupation at the end 189 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: of World War Two. Today it sits on the western 190 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: end of Ukraine. Zacarpatia is a small state whose complex 191 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: history puts it on the border of four other countries, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, 192 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: and Poland. About a two mile hike from the Polish 193 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: border sits Virgobina Bistra, the village where Mike was raised. 194 00:12:53,480 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: The towns people, let's say, houses, and the winters were drizzle. 195 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 1: October is pretty much small. That's that's really early in 196 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: the year for snow, and really there snow stage in 197 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: the mountains. I remember until May Mike lived through these 198 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: endless winters with his parents, Maria and Yuri. The co 199 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: Fils owned a small, simple house that they shared with 200 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,839 Speaker 1: his grandparents. Small and simple, and that there were not 201 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: enough rooms for Mike to have his own space. Up 202 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: until he left, he shared a bed with his parents. 203 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: Village life in Ukraine of the ighties was very much 204 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: like it had been a hundred years before. The home 205 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: was warmed by a wood burning heater. It had no 206 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: plumbing until the mid nine nineties. The toilet was a 207 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: simple outhouse in the back. Burco by Nabista was a 208 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: picture of rural life behind the iron curtain. And how 209 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:01,200 Speaker 1: did you get around if you had to go to 210 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: another town. We just used the bicycles, just walk, you know. 211 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: But my father, my father didn't have like motorcycle, motorcycle 212 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: the side So did you ride in the side car? Yeah, 213 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 1: I remember you had it. Force was also hard to 214 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 1: get like gasoline at the time, so most of the 215 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 1: time like you walk. Um, what was it like in 216 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: your town? Did people have money? What kind of work 217 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: did they do? Most of them, if not all, people 218 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: were still doing the farmwood. My father did you know? 219 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: He was looking at railroad and still about the whole 220 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: council was broad, you know that if you're still working, 221 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: they still wouldn't pay you developed prolonged delay in delay 222 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: and delay you know, yeah months all conscious the time 223 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: was really broad or just corrupt, you know, just maybe 224 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: and you said your your your your father worked in 225 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: the railroad. What about your mom? Me and my mom, 226 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: they we were working on the fields, even my father's 227 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 1: after working sometimes come and start working on the fields. 228 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: And yeah, during time, I just remembers just working, also 229 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 1: working a lot. The school ended at like twelve o'clock 230 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: and after school I'll come bay just keptastic and go 231 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: go into the fields to work. How old were you seven? Eight? 232 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: Eight years old? You know nothing exceptionally everybody much work 233 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: like that. Did you like to work? I didn't mind, 234 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: but as I remember, sometimes you get tired of it, 235 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: like because basically it was like men work from like 236 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 1: eight hundreds, because you know, you get your shallow, you 237 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: got your rate, you know, basically those tools from from yours. 238 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: And also in a summer like behindo school in a summer, 239 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: so basically then you have to work the whole day. 240 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: Did you ever think about what you wanted to do 241 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 1: when you grew up, when you were that age and 242 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: you were working in the field, the all the kids 243 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: would just decided like they want to do something that 244 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: your father here. So I was I was like, oh, 245 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: I guess I got work on the railroad, And I 246 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: really wasn't sure enough and everything was really uncertain because 247 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,080 Speaker 1: everything was just intro models, you know, and just a 248 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: hard times. And things got worse in when the Soviet 249 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: Union dissolved. The economy collapsed and the entire country started 250 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,920 Speaker 1: to change as trade restrictions were lifted. So I grew 251 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: up one of my ears and mamas being during the 252 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: time so new and so union broke up, everybody broke 253 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: gave the whole. It's also empty everything just as the 254 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 1: pluck you see. Then everything you just started coming. The 255 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: whole market open up. You know. You got products from 256 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: from Europe, coming in from from America. Everything. The movie 257 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: was entertainments a totally different What kind of what kind 258 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: of movies and TV shows were you watching? Oh you 259 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: know they don't people those classics of mcamos, you know, 260 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: uh Anno schwazeneger uh sost a long had this uh 261 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: small movie there. But I just try to cramming and 262 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: get there. And so they had some a lot money. 263 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: Remember if you bought that to be like if you 264 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:05,199 Speaker 1: had like one of the first color to be So 265 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: it's like a big thing. And so of my friends, 266 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: Oh man, you got a color, dude. It's like other nineties. 267 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: Um like in general, like, would you say you had 268 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: a happy childhood? Uh, some parts, yes, a lot of parts. 269 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: No stimes sometimes thinking out, playing soccer that was kind 270 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: of fun. But growing up, yeah, there were a lot 271 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: of step parts. And the bad parts, Mike says, didn't 272 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:35,360 Speaker 1: just have to do with the struggles of his country's 273 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 1: changing economy. Mike was also dealing with problems inside his home. 274 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about your your family. Can 275 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: you describe your dad anything you can think of when 276 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,239 Speaker 1: you think of him? Okay, Uh, I just remember growing up. 277 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: My first member is my father was already drinking. It 278 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:01,119 Speaker 1: was an alcoholic you know. But he was also working. 279 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:03,679 Speaker 1: Of course my were road but you're of course not 280 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,119 Speaker 1: supposed to be drinking when you would of course joining 281 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:09,440 Speaker 1: the trains. So I remember, yeah, before he went to work, 282 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: he was like a space mouth wherever. Then my mom, 283 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:17,199 Speaker 1: if she could smell any alcohol, I am, And of 284 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: course he was my mom, my mother. He was diling 285 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: towards your mom. Yeah, it was it was to get 286 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: you get violent. How old do you remember when you were? 287 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: How how old you were when you started witnessing that? 288 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: Oh that was really I was maybe five four? Remember 289 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: being you know. I just remember that my mother started 290 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: to be like scared because you know, she would hear 291 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: that motorcycle late at night because she knew it would 292 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: be usually drinking. How did that make you feel? It 293 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,160 Speaker 1: was nervous and scared. But when he was not drinking, 294 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,119 Speaker 1: like he was like normal. You know. Eventually he had 295 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 1: an accident. He would crush his motorcycles. So I remember 296 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,919 Speaker 1: doing the last play. He had a broken leg, so 297 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: I spent some time in hostile he covered. He still 298 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: continue to drink when he would get violent when he 299 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 1: was drunk. Did did you or your mom or anybody 300 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: ever call the police station? No? No, of course you 301 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: didn't have. As Eurie's drinking grew worse over the years, 302 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,120 Speaker 1: he became more physically abusive towards Mike and his mother. 303 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: The violence was like a dark cloud over his childhood, 304 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,640 Speaker 1: which overshadowed any happy memories the family shared. But there 305 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: was one of his father's drunken outbursts that Mike could 306 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: not forget, and it's the moment he described police after 307 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: he confessed to killing sister Michelle. Mike told detectives that 308 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 1: one night, when he was about twelve or thirteen, Eurie 309 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: came home after he and his mother had gone to sleep. 310 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:53,919 Speaker 1: Mike said he woke up to feel his dad's hands 311 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 1: and body on him, drunkenly touching Mike in a sexual way. 312 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: Did you ever get a sense that that your dad 313 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: it was like he understood that he had a drinking problem. 314 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: And did he ever apologize that. He ever say like 315 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: I'm going to stop drinking or I'm gonna get better 316 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: or anything like that. Uh, you know, I remember him 317 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:21,800 Speaker 1: saying that at all. But you know, but basically I 318 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: had makes it more suspecting because I hated him because 319 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,200 Speaker 1: he was keep on drinking, hit him with my mother 320 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: and so always. But also you know, part of me 321 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: of course still of course still him because of my 322 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: mother and my father, and we had a good times. 323 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,719 Speaker 1: I remember, it's just him being mean violence, hit him, 324 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: my mother and me. It's just also like crying, try 325 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: to send my mother and it's just I remember, okay, 326 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 1: I remember saying my mother or let's just get out 327 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,040 Speaker 1: of here, just leave God for the city. And I said, 328 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:53,879 Speaker 1: so you were you were telling your mom that that 329 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 1: you should leave your dad. Yeah, you know that I 330 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,360 Speaker 1: was really hard boken, so I thought it to leave 331 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: and of course she was flying and she said it 332 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:08,879 Speaker 1: really be handle place to go. Though Mike and his 333 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: mom couldn't leave their home together, he would one day 334 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: be offered his own way out. That's coming up after 335 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 1: a break, Welcome back the Sacred Scandal. I'm Melanie Bartley 336 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 1: and I'm Bola Barrows. One of the ways Mike and 337 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: his mom Maria, dealt with the trauma of URI's drinking 338 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: was through their faith as Greek Catholics. Trans Carpathia is 339 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,680 Speaker 1: where Greek or Bysantine Catholicism began in the seventeenth century, 340 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,919 Speaker 1: but because of the church's affiliation with the Pope, Greek 341 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: Catholics in the region were persecuted by the Soviet Union. 342 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: Some leaders were imprisoned as suspected spies of Rome, and 343 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,920 Speaker 1: their denomination was forced to merge into the Russian Orthodox Church. 344 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: I remember during time even my town, like the teachers 345 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,119 Speaker 1: were like discourses to go from going to church, but 346 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:24,479 Speaker 1: it was having so it's after everything so new broke up, 347 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: you know, everything you've got of freedom. But Greek Catholics 348 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: like me Hailo and his mom continued to meet and 349 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: pray in secret or gather in rural churches. After the 350 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:40,880 Speaker 1: Soviet Union dissolved, things changed. We were a Greek Catholic. 351 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: It was forbidden religious in Holy Ukraine, and they were 352 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:49,680 Speaker 1: like playing in the houses and getting together, and even 353 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: my schoolmates didn't know that we have praise at home. 354 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: And then we Catholic, we were like always hiding. This 355 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: is Elia Hrtzock. He was once a monastic candidate at 356 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: Holy Cross too, though he arrived a few years after 357 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: Mike and left before Sister Michelle's murder. We reached out 358 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: to a number of former monastic candidates because we were 359 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: curious to know about how they got to Miami and 360 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: learn about their lives at Holy Cross. Of those we 361 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: heard back from, Ilia was the only one willing to 362 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,880 Speaker 1: speak with us at all. These days, Elia lives in Ukraine. 363 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: He's married, has a family, and runs a business. But 364 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,360 Speaker 1: back in the nine nineties, both Mike and Ilia were 365 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: in similar places, living in small, rural Transcarpathian villages of 366 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,880 Speaker 1: about a thousand people, and faith played a large part 367 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,640 Speaker 1: in each of their lives. For Mike, by the time 368 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: he turned thirteen, he was already planning to spend the 369 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,159 Speaker 1: rest of his life living as a monk, serving a 370 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: monastery even before going to America and say, oh, I 371 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:02,399 Speaker 1: want thee. I wanted to mock in Ukraine and I 372 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,639 Speaker 1: was really really into it. I was really that was 373 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:09,879 Speaker 1: my inventious, like my whole life to be mon And 374 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,439 Speaker 1: for Ilia, the end of restrictions around his faith also 375 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: moved him in the direction of monastic life. You see 376 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: when you grow up ten years and playing and waiting 377 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,359 Speaker 1: for your church to become a free church and build 378 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,159 Speaker 1: your churches, and to the monk, it was it was 379 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: okay from me and especially for Mike Barance. They were 380 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:35,960 Speaker 1: really glad, but didn't push me in any way. At 381 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: the same time, Ukraine was undergoing a massive economic shift 382 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,959 Speaker 1: as the now independent country found its way in the 383 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: wake of the Soviet Union's demise. The new nation was 384 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:51,120 Speaker 1: also becoming more open to Western countries, and it's at 385 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,160 Speaker 1: this point that a priest from Miami appeared in Transcarpathia 386 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:02,200 Speaker 1: searching for devout Catholic boys like Mike and Ilia. When 387 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:06,560 Speaker 1: was the first time that you found out about Holy 388 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,639 Speaker 1: Cross and went and that these priests were looking for 389 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,760 Speaker 1: for monastic candidates who told you about them? The first 390 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: time that I heard about Father Wind and father gue 391 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:23,879 Speaker 1: Bolts was from our local priest in Ukraine was going 392 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 1: to my town on Sundays and doing during the Mass, 393 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: and his name was Zuru Sable. At the time on 394 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,639 Speaker 1: Sundays I was reading from my Gospel during Mass, and 395 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: on Saturdays he was teaching me about the Bible, Catholic 396 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: religion in general. So at one time it actually he 397 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: fold me all about Father wind and um if I 398 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: was interested of going to in that the space, and 399 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,119 Speaker 1: do you remember how how he described them, like what 400 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 1: he told you about them? So Father Sable he said this, 401 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: you know this a good people, good so of course 402 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: you know so. And they said that if I was interested, 403 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,880 Speaker 1: that I would go to his house in Ukraine. And 404 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: this was like a test youth test us questions. So 405 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: I said yes. Mihailo said yes to what he thought 406 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: would be a great opportunity to escape a violent and 407 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 1: chaotic home. His own priest, Father Sabov was kind of 408 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,680 Speaker 1: a mentor, and he was finding more reasons to spend 409 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 1: time at the church, to study with the priest or, 410 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: to attend religious festivals. So the offer to join an 411 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: American monastery was exciting. On top of joining the monastery, 412 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: the boys were also told that they would have the 413 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: opportunity to study at the newly built Holy Cross Academy 414 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: with the permission of their parents. Those interested in joining 415 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 1: would leave home for a trial run of what life 416 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: at the monastery would be like. It was kind of 417 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,119 Speaker 1: like a reality TV show where all of the contestants 418 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: arrived at the house and the last one standing win. Okay, 419 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: at the beginning, we were the first ones ever. So 420 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,399 Speaker 1: at the time, they just rented this this house like 421 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 1: like in the woods in this town called host Once 422 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: a day came to go. I remember being really nervous. 423 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 1: I was nervous of going and was meeting you know 424 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: this American priests. So we believe that we ended up. 425 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: We went to the main city, which is once there 426 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: by the wind get out from the wind. I remember 427 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,920 Speaker 1: this this tall guy just dressed in black and and 428 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,920 Speaker 1: big inperiod. When you saw him the first time, where 429 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: you what did you think? I was really nervous, as 430 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: I think he might have hugged me or something, I 431 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: think so, So anyway, you know, I said very bay 432 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: from my mother, and um I got inside the van. 433 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: So we told there and eventually they were about us 434 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: say seven or inside the house there was in the 435 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 1: sum of in July. When Ilia found out about Holy 436 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,960 Speaker 1: Cross a few years later, the experience was similar. A 437 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 1: local priest who met the American and knew he was 438 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: looking for boys to become monks, introduced Ilia to the 439 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:30,240 Speaker 1: idea of joining the monastery in Miami. Ilia never met 440 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:34,639 Speaker 1: Went until he joined the training center. Also, by the 441 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: time he signed on, Went moved things from the rented 442 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: cabin in the woods to a newly built country house 443 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: mate specifically to be used as a year round monastic 444 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: training and recruiting center. It was staffed by local people 445 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: and went would visit during the year. Elia joined the 446 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 1: center with about nine other boys, including his cousin Fasile. Yes, 447 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: and we went there and for is prepression center together 448 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: and we were like driving home back and forth August together. 449 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,200 Speaker 1: So what was your first impression of Father Abbott. The 450 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: impression of Father went, It's like when you when you 451 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 1: know some person. Everybody was saying who is he and 452 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: how is he? And when when when I saw him, 453 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 1: it was for me like a pope. Because we were 454 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 1: prepared for this. We were told that it's a bigger 455 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: authority and he is almost holy man and you see 456 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: and and you have to obey and then he's the 457 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: first person in in monastery. So describe a little bit 458 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: what the process was like for you. Yeah, and we 459 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 1: stayed here in those road learning, studying and getting ready 460 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: for for for church, for singing and English, because before 461 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: I learned German. So I think this for me was 462 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: like something new totally. And we were braining and we 463 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 1: had schedule every day at the same time. We were 464 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: doing the same things or two to be prepared for 465 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: month life like this, aside from living like monks at 466 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: the training center. Mike told us that when also interviewed 467 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 1: the potential candidates regularly through an interpreter, father went asked 468 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: questions about their faith and families to figure out who 469 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: would be best suited for life at Holy Cross. Did 470 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: he ask you any questions about your relationship with your father, 471 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: Like did you tell him about your father's drinking problem 472 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: and all of that? Do you remember that? Oh? No, 473 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,080 Speaker 1: you know, of those It's something I would help, you know. 474 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 1: I don't want to say yeah. I wasn't feeling comfortable 475 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 1: telling that, you know, and especially I said, you know, 476 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: I'm you know, everything's fine, you know, um my parents fine. 477 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: So you were you were you were trying to get selected. 478 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: You were basically saying the things you know he wanted 479 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: to hear to get selected. Oh yeah, at the time, 480 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,960 Speaker 1: I just wanted to get away from my town, from 481 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:24,240 Speaker 1: my father and uh go to go to America, you know, 482 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: looking back, and I was really really emotional and if 483 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: things depress, that was really different time at the time. 484 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: By the end of July, most of the boys quit 485 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: or were asked to leave the house in the woods. 486 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 1: Only Mi Halo and two other boys passed the test. 487 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:53,480 Speaker 1: One of them was Petro Tornta, the monk who would 488 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: one day find sister Michelle's body. Next, they were sent 489 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: alone on a daylong traine I need to Kiev, Ukraine's 490 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: capital city, to get their visas to study in the 491 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: United States. Petro was approved that day, Mike was told 492 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: to make another long trip home and return with his parents, 493 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: and the third boy never got the visa. Mike and 494 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: Petro would be the first monastic candidates at Holy Cross. 495 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: What was the criteria do you think that went was 496 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: using when he started narrowing down And why why did 497 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: you Petro and this other kid um stay and the 498 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: other kids leave? Uh? Now now thinking back, I know 499 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: why he was looking at a take that the guys 500 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: that were like really humble, really obedience, really also religious, 501 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: the boys whom you could easily control, manipulate whom they could. 502 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 1: He's the band wash. Yeah, there was the main thing. 503 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 1: At the end of summer approached, and with a new 504 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: school year around the corner, the teenagers would need to 505 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: leave almost immediately in order to have enough time to 506 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:17,120 Speaker 1: get settled in. But Mike, who was now fourteen, knew 507 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:19,680 Speaker 1: he was leaving a lot of worries behind the Ukraine, 508 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 1: especially with his dad. He was dead drunk the foot 509 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: last last day before I went to the stage, drunk. 510 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: What do you mean that drunk? He was just special 511 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: out from drinking, and I just, yeah, I think I 512 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: said like goodbye dad, and I remember saying that, and uh, 513 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:44,400 Speaker 1: then left And when you said goodbye, did he what 514 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: did he say? Do you remember? No, he didn't, he didn't. 515 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 1: You might have said something incoherent in all by the time, 516 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: it was really just really drinking bad. How did that 517 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,239 Speaker 1: make you feel when when you were leaving and your 518 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:00,840 Speaker 1: dad was was passed out drunk, like, oh yeah, I 519 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 1: was of course heartbroken. Most most of the time, even after, 520 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,439 Speaker 1: of course left, because I was still worrying about my mother, 521 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,000 Speaker 1: just how is she doing? And of course I also 522 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: worried about him because he was drinking and I was 523 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: going to work on this big train. Is the dangerous work, 524 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:22,960 Speaker 1: you know. After that hard goodbye, Maria ko Fell would 525 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: take her son into the city. From there he could 526 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,919 Speaker 1: get on a vent to Slovakia, followed by a flight 527 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: to the Czech Republic, a flight to New Jersey, and 528 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 1: then finally he'd make his way to his new home 529 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:39,800 Speaker 1: in Miami, Florida. For Elia herd Sock, the path to 530 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,920 Speaker 1: Miami was different. After almost two years of preparing, Elia 531 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: was finally approved for a visa to study at Holy 532 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:51,319 Speaker 1: Cross Academy. His cousin Basil was able to go a 533 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: year before him. When the cousins were reunited in Miami, 534 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:59,400 Speaker 1: Elia noticed something was off. The pair grew up together 535 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: and work close in Ukraine, but during this year in 536 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: Miami the sile became distant. But when I came to 537 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:11,800 Speaker 1: U say, I I had a little contact with Basil, 538 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 1: so we didn't talk. We talked about about some things. 539 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: Was Silius was He didn't like to talk about a lot. 540 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,239 Speaker 1: He wanted to be a monk more than anyone who 541 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 1: was there. We were allowed to speak Ukraine between us, 542 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:39,920 Speaker 1: but Pasil almost didn't talk Ukrainian on the English. Did 543 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: the sial change at all in your eyes? I wouldn't 544 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 1: say that he changed, He just he just he became 545 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: more close. But Vasil wasn't the only manastic candidate who 546 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,160 Speaker 1: Ilia saw being closed off like this. He said that 547 00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: he and the other boys usually talked and studied together 548 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: in a common area of their house when they weren't 549 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: in school. But Elia noticed that sometimes mi Halo's attitude 550 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,919 Speaker 1: would change and he didn't want to be a part 551 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:12,720 Speaker 1: of the group. Elias says that usually seemed to happen 552 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: after Father Damien would ask to speak with Mike privately 553 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:23,880 Speaker 1: in his room. Sometimes Mihailo ran to the Damien's room 554 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:30,680 Speaker 1: and after one hour or two hours staying there, came 555 00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: me out and didn't talk to anybody. Going directly to 556 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 1: the to his room and staying there built the money. 557 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:42,840 Speaker 1: So it was always like this Father Damon and Mihailo. 558 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,759 Speaker 1: So no other monks would ever go into Damien's room 559 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,880 Speaker 1: for two hours like that. It was only Mihailo not 560 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,399 Speaker 1: at all. I didn't see anybody else to go there. 561 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: Even better didn't go there, and they would close the 562 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 1: door behind them. I don't remember that. Maybe maybe but 563 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:09,920 Speaker 1: they student sun of life. As a regular student at 564 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: holy Cross Academy, I always thought the monastic candidates were 565 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: a little weird and quiet, just because they had to be. 566 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,280 Speaker 1: But hearing things like this from Ilia made me realize 567 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:23,879 Speaker 1: that even though we were on campus every day, we've 568 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:26,880 Speaker 1: really had no idea what was going on behind the 569 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: walls of that monastery. And after talking to Mike for 570 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,759 Speaker 1: all these years, what we found out has shocked us. 571 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,200 Speaker 1: So next time on Sacred Scandal, we're gonna take a 572 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 1: look at what life was like on the campus of 573 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: holy Cross when no one was looking. Sacred Scandal is 574 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:01,640 Speaker 1: a production of Exile Content Student in partnership with I 575 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:06,839 Speaker 1: Heart Radios Michael Podcast Network. Sacred Scandal was created and 576 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:12,040 Speaker 1: produced by Melanie Bartley and me Paula Burrows. Our senior 577 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: producer is Dennis Funk of Written in Air. The executive 578 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:22,360 Speaker 1: producers are Rose Red and Nando Villa. Our production assistant 579 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,760 Speaker 1: is Imani Leonard. The show is fact checked by Kimberly Winston. 580 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:32,880 Speaker 1: Original music was composed by Patrick Hart and special thanks 581 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: on this episode to Travis Roig. If you'd like to 582 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: reach out, email us at hello at Sacred Scandal podcast 583 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,919 Speaker 1: dot com, and you can follow us on Instagram at 584 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: Sacred Scandal