He received elementary-school education at the John B. Murphy public school in Chicago.
In August 1943, he entered the Society of Jesus at Milford, Ohio.
In the fall of 1947, he began a three-year course in philosophy at West Baden College, and enrolled in Loyola University, where he took a Bachelor of Arts degree the following June.
Powell was a proponent of humanistic Catholicism and wrote many books mostly dealing with psychology and Catholic theology, and conducted spiritual retreats along with his counseling work.
He later retired in Michigan and died in Clarkston, allegedly with Alzheimer's disease.