St. Thomas School
In 1886, following renovations to the church building, a
parochial school was established, staffed by
Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. By 1916, the school facilities were found to be inadequate and the parish began renting a nearby vacant public school building and in 1929, a new school was built. In 1980 the school merged with other nearby Catholic schools. In 2021, the school was involved in controversy when reporing showed that the
Augustinian-owned St. John Stone
Friary, less than a block away, began to house James Ray, a priest of the Chicago archdiocese who had been accused of sexual abuse of minors multiple times, beginning in 2000. Neither Augustinian nor
Archdiocese of Chicago officials raised the proximity of St. Thomas School as a possible concern, with church records incorrectly stating that there was no school in the immediate area of the friary. This is in spite of the fact that Ray had taken students out of class at prior assignments. While Augustinians at the friary understood the priest's case and the need for compliance with restrictions on his ministry, this was not communicated to school officials. The arrangement of the accused priest, James Ray, residing at the friary was approved by the provincial superior of the Augustinians, Robert Prevost, who would become
Pope Leo XIV in 2025. == References ==