Brother Thomas Ford (aka Thomas Cuthbert)
Ordained: 1955
Died: 2008
Assigned as follows:
- 1956-1959 Mt. Cashel Home for Boys (Newfoundland, Canada)
- 1959 Cardinal Hayes High School (New York, NY)
- 1960-1964 Catholic Memorial High School (Boston, MA)
- 1964-1967 O'Dea High School (Seattle, WA)
- 1967-1970 St. Laurence High School (Chicago, IL)
- 1971-1975 Damien High School (Honolulu, HI)
- 1975-1979 Boy's Central High School (Butte, MT)
- 1980-1986 St. Laurence High School (Chicago, IL)
- 1986-1996 Bergen High School (Bergen, NJ)
- 1996-2000 Unknown
- 2001-2008 Santa Maria Community (New York, NY)
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Brother Thomas C. Ford (aka Thomas Cuthbert):
Brother Thomas Ford (aka Thomas Cuthbert) was an American and Irish citizen. He was a member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers religious order and served in the Archdiocese of Newark. He served as an educator in various schools and was Dean at Damien Memorial School in Hawaii.
According to media reports, in November 1996, Brother Ford disappeared after prosecutors in Canada indicted him on assault charges stemming from the 1950s. After a 10-year investigation into abuse at the order's Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland, he was accused of beating five abandoned boys between 1956 and 1959. Newfoundland Detective, Mark Wall spoke of Brother Ford's alleged abuse of a 14-year-old boy with a belt in a shower room.
"What he did to that young fellow was brutal. There's no doubt about it," Wall said. "It's certainly child abuse. Everybody remembered what Ford did. This is not corporal punishment. This is cruel. I just want Ford to stand up in court and let the courts decide what happened."
One alleged victim described him as "a coldblooded animal" who blackened his eyes, bruised his face, "and seemed to enjoy it."
In March 1998, Brother Ford resurfaced in Hackensack, New Jersey. In August 2000, he turned himself in to Canadian authorities. In exchange for his return, prosecutors agreed to drop eight counts of simple assault against him, but retained a charge of assault causing bodily injury. He pleaded guilty to savagely beating one of the boys leaving him unconscious in a shower. He was sentenced to five months in jail.
Brother Ford died in December 2008. In April 2014, he was named in a civil suit alleging he abused one boy at Damien Memorial School in Hawaii, in 1970.
In 2017, Brother Ford's name appeared on the Irish Christian Brothers' list of members who had more than one abuse claim against them. Claims against these men were never validated, as part of the bankruptcy settlement agreement.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused in the Archdiocese of Newark, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Newark now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in New Jersey and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com to discuss your options today.