| Name | Thomas J. Powers | Jesuit |
| Date of Birth | 4/30/1941 | |
| Date of Ordination | 1972 | |
| Association with LUC | 1982-1983 | |
| Position at LUC | Jesuit Residence – exact position unclear | |
| Date of incident, Location of Incident | 1970s | St. Ignatius High School, Cleveland, OH |
| 1973-1978 | John Carroll University, University Heights, OH | |
| 1985-1986 | Walsh Jesuit High School, Cuyahoga Falls, OH | |
| 2000 | Colombiere Center, Clarkston, MI | |
| Number of victims/accusations | At least 3 victims | |
| Case status | Accused | |
| Status of Individual | Dismissed from Society of Jesus | 7/6/2001 |
| Deceased | 5/31/19 |
Fr. Thomas J. Powers joined Loyola University Chicago in 1982. He is not listed in the university’s course books of the academic years he was assigned to Loyola, and nothing in the public record indicates his position at the university, whether he was faculty, ministry, a student, or simply living in the Jesuit residence adjacent to Lakeshore Campus.[1]
Powers came from the diocese of Cleveland, where he had been teaching at St. Ignatius High School on the city’s West Side as well as at John Caroll University. He was later in his career accused of having sexually abused multiple students at both of these locations. Immediately before coming to Loyola, Powers had served as chaplain in the United States Army. After two years at Loyola, he returned to Ohio, where he taught at Walsh Jesuit High School in the Cleveland suburb of Cuyahoga Falls. Here, too, Powers was later accused of having abused students over the course of several years. He spent the larger part of his career as a faculty member in secondary and post-secondary education. He was then again accused of sexually abusing a minor in the year 2000 while he was living at the Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan.[2] The public record lacks exact information on Powers’ transgressions. He was dismissed from the Jesuit order in 2001. The reason for his dismissal is not on record. Powers’ case file and publicly available records do not indicate whether or not the Jesuits were aware of his behavior before his eventual dismissal.[3] Powers passed away in 2019.
[1] The Society of Jesus – USA Midwest Province, “USA Midwest Province Jesuits with an Established Allegation of Sexual Abuse of a Minor Assignment List” (The Society of Jesus, December 21, 2018), 54, https://www.bishop-accountability.org/order_lists/Jesuits_Midwest/2018_12_21_Jesuits_Midwest_Established_Allegations_Assignment_List.pdf.
[2] The Society of Jesus – USA Midwest Province, 9.
[3] “Fr. Thomas J. Powers – BishopAccountability.Org,” October 31, 2019, https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/powers-thomas-j-1972/.
