Archbishop Ford was a solemnly professed Franciscan Friar of the Third Order Regular, born and educated in Boston, Massachusetts. He was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood in Boston and served as Pastor of several parishes and established a number of missions throughout the New England and Hampton Roads areas. Through the many years of his ministry, he worked in the fields of education, child guidance, community service, insurance and accounting. During those years he was also blessed to have been able to serve as an unofficial foster-father to several boys whose mothers asked him to assist them and to guide them as they grew up into young men with families of their own. He remained a constant and regular figure in their and in  their children's lives. He counted eight young men as his foster-sons, and through them, twenty-five foster-grandchildren and eighten foster great-grandchildren.  He was first elected as an Auxiliary Bishop in 1978 and later was elevated to the Office of Ordinary of New England, and subsequently was elected as the Metropolitan-Primate of the Church. He re-organized and re-vitalized St Francis Seminary, co-ordinated the revision and publication of the Church's current Constitution and Codex of Canon Law, as well as missalettes and service booklets for the official liturgical services and rituals of our Church. He authored numerous articles, booklets, pamphlets and devotional materials currently in use throughout the Church and also was the principal compiler of the Church's catechism: Our Catholic Faith and Practice. He was Pastor of Blessed Sacrament Old Roman Catholic Church in Sanford, Maine; and iwas the Director of the Prince of Peace Christian School, a private Christian School serving students in grades K through 12, which is  also located in Sanford, Maine. In addition to serving as the Director, Archbishop Ford taught English, French, Latin, Spanish, Christian Studies, Philosophy, Ethics, Apologetics and Constitutional Law to the High Schoolers there.