Customer Reviews

Murder at Holy Cross (Berkley True Crime)

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This is a very well written and very well researched book about a sordid crime that gripped South Florida. I followed the case closely when it first broke, so I found the book especially interesting. The author, a veteran true-crime journalist, did a remarkable job revealing never-before-disclosed details about the goings-on at Holy Cross. He delves deeply into the characters of the victim, a nun, her killer, and the clerics who lived and worked at Holy Cross. He also provides historical context, especially concerning the Catholic Church. True crime fans will find this book very compelling. It is a real page-turner and a terrific read.

Students of American history may find Murder at Holy Cross somewhat reminiscent of the early 19th century lurid accounts of the purported goings on inside Catholic convents and monasteries. Two hundred years later we are still shocked by the immorality exposed by the author at this Florida monastery. A very frank account of what can happen when people( here the head monks) have absolute control over the lives of young men who are studying to become members of the order. Highly recommended for true crime mavens.

Abott Gregory Wendt and his priestly partner, Father Damien Gibault, established Holy Cross Academy as a Catholic school which also boasted a small monastery for young monks in training. However, things were not as they seemed. Wendt was not really an Abott as he lacked the proper credentials and training. He just assumed the title because he felt himself worthy of the title. In addition, Father Gibault, who should have been under supervision, was not. And, unbeknownst to Sister Michelle Lewis, a nun who worked tirelessly at Holy Cross for 10 years, she was not really a nun. You see, Abott Gregory Wendt did not wish to follow the rules of the Catholic Archdiocese, so he effectively "divorced" Holy Cross Academy from the Archdiocese... a legal maneuver that left Sister Michelle without a convent, and Abott Gregory Wendt accountable to no one.

In a series of tragic events leading to a death, Sister Michelle Lewis was bludgeoned and brutally stabbed in her small bedroom on a hot, summer evening. A trail of bloody footprints led to the monastery on the campus grounds, where Mikhaylo Kofel was quickly identified as the murderer. When he confessed to police, he also disclosed the shocking details of two pedophilic priests who controlled every aspect of the young monks lives, and insisted that some of the boys sleep with them at night. Police investigators soon found themselves investigating not only a murder, but allegations of child sexual abuse.

Without disclosing all pertinent details, I will state without reservation that MURDER AT HOLY CROSS is a book well worth the investment of time to read it. I do wish there had been more individual and familial history available pertaining to Abott Wendt and Father Gibault, but these two losers refused to submit to any formal interview with police investigators and "lawyered up" befor Kofel could even make a full statement about the murder of Sister Michelle or the abuse he suffered for years at the hands of Wendt and, less often, Gibault. Attempts by the author to contact both men went ignored.

As a practicing psychotherapist, I have given the murder of Sister Michelle Lewis a great deal of thought. Mikhaylo Kofel reported that Sister Michelle was often angry with him and treated him unfairly. Perhaps she did. However, I doubt Kofel murdered Sister Michelle simply because she was perceived as an overbearing, "mean" nun. It is much more likely that Kofel lashed out at one of the few persons available as a target for his building rage and fear. Allowed almost no contact with anyone outside the monastery and having been effectively imprisoned in the United States during the crucial formative and adolescent years of his devlopment, Kofel had nowhere to go and no way to seek assistance from his family in the Ukraine. Too afraid to act out against his aggressors and unable to physically overpower Wendt or Gibault, Kofel unleashed his anger on the only person over whom he could exercise power or reclaim some sense of self... a defenseless nun asleep in her bedroom.

MURDER AT HOLY CROSS is the story of the murder of Sister Michelle Lewis, a nun at the Holy Cross monastery in Miami, by Mykhaylo Kofel, a young Ukranian monk-in-training. Holy Cross, though on the surface a mainstream institution, was in fact anything but. The founder and head man, Abbot Gregory Wendt, specifically chartered his operation so as to be totally independent from either the Catholic or Byzantine Churches. And Holy Cross specialized in recruiting teenage boys, an unheard of practice in usual monastery tradition, from the Ukraine to train as monks. Holy Cross was, then, essentially a rogue operation responsible to no controlling authority, with Wendt as the head rogue. When Sister Lewis was murdered, Wendt and his right-hand man, Father Damian Gibault, did not cooperate with investigators, concerned only with controlling the damage that the murder, and Kofel's allegations of sexual abuse at the monastery, would do to their fiefdom.

Peter Davidson has written, intelligently and professionally, a fine book.
He eschews the tired soap opera trotted out by lesser writers, sticking to a journalistic approach. His research into the backgrounds of the young Ukranians and of Michelle Lewis are good. And the allegations of homosexual abuse by Wendt and Gibault are dealt with in great detail.
My only minor complaint is that I wish there had been considerably more background information on Wendt and Gibault, but it is unlikely that Davidson would have received their cooperation.

MURDER AT HOLY CROSS is not a "big" book, but neither is it a rush to print trasher. It is short, an easy read, and highly recommended to true crime lovers.

I actually attended HCA is the early 90s. Sister Michelle was my nun and Father Damien taught my religion class. Even then we knew they were very bad men. Our parents did not believe us when we told them the rude things these men would say to us. Both men were both power and money hungry. Your final counted for 75% of your grade and if you failed, one hundred dollars could be paid for a retake. Essentially, your studying during the year didn't count. Also the teachers there were outcasts from other private schools as was Father Gregory himself. He had taught Latin at a big name private school and left to start HCA. The education was poor, not once did I write an essay there or read a novel. We suspected several of the teachers to have drinking problems. Discipline was not much better. I once got suspended for singing in study hall to Sister Michelle. I had had a star sticker on my face to cover a zit and he threatened to slice my face open. It was widely rumored that Father Gregory had expelled an entire class for being rowdy.

Mr. Sherman was the best thing about that school.