Fr. Thomas Patrick Purcell

Order: SM
Ordained: 1972
Status: Convicted

Diocese: Diocese of Tucson AZ

Professed vows in 1959 as a Marianist, Province of St. Louis. Worked in MO, IL, TX, AZ. Ordained in 1972. Left the Order in 1990. Incardinated in 1990 into the Diocese of Fresno. Faculties revoked 3/15/1996. Name appeared in a 6/2002 news article listing 15 priests with ties to the Tucson diocese who had been accused of child sexual abuse. Purcell worked in the Tucson diocese 1982-1984 as a visiting priest. Convicted in 2003 of abuse of a 13-year-old boy in 1982-1983. Received a 9.5-year sentence. Included on the Diocese of Tucson’s list in 8/2011, referred to as a Diocese of Fresno priest suspended from ministry. Included on the Marianists’ 6/24/2020 list of accused. On the Stockton diocese’s list 11/12/2020, where he worked in the summer of 1981 and 1/1-3/1 1982. Included on the Diocese of Fresno’s list in 2021. On the Belleville diocese’s list 9/20/2022. Included in the 5/23/2023 IL Attorney General’s Report.


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