Advocate says ex-priest charged with raping disabled child should now be put on clergy-abuser list

Group says Mark Francis Ford's work history also has several red flags, including entering a program known for treating pedophilia, though he claimed he was there due to problematic spending

An Indiana man charged with molesting a disabled child while working as a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans for several years beginning in 2004 should be listed as a credibly accused clergy abuser by various institutions for whom he ministered, says the director of a church accountability organization.

Mark Francis Ford, once a member of the religious order colloquially known as the Vincentians, ministered within the archdiocese of New Orleans as well as the dioceses of Dallas and Gallup, New Mexico, after his ordination in 1992. He is accused of raping a boy whom he met through a program that he helped start in New Orleans named God's Special Children - which serves youths who are disabled - before and after the Vincentians say Ford successfully asked the Vatican to laicize him, or remove him from the priesthood, in 2007.