WHO IS BLOCKLEY?

Some have seen the name of Fr. Matthew Blockley in the comments on this blog and recently in two PDN stories (here and here). You may be wondering who he is. Rest assured that he is not a name the Chancery Three expected or wanted to see. In fact, rest assured that the Chancery Three are probably hard at work discrediting him, and in fact may have already begun the Tagaytay treatment. 

If you google Fr. Blockley you will find stories like this one from 2008 essentially involving an all-points bulletin from Saipan Bishop Tomas Camacho to find and flush out Blockley who he considered to be AWOL from the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. 

The story made more or less national news because Fr. Blockley was staying with a priest friend who was also a well-known Fox News commentator, Msgr. James Lisante. Let's let Fr. Blockley tell you the part of the story that is not in the news:

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In July of 1992, while yet a seminarian at the Pontifical Beda College, I came to Guam at the invitation of Archbishop Apuron. I had met Archbishop Apuron through friends we had in common in Northern California. I had some choices about which diocese I wanted to be incardinated into so I accepted Archbishop Apuron's invitation to come to Guam. 

Upon arrival I was assigned to the Cathedral Basilica with Vocation Director, Fr. Adrian Cristobal. It was obvious from the start that Fr. Cristobal did not like me. Adrian ordered me to sit with him, eat with him, and always be with him like he would make the altar boys do. 

When I refused to be his butler and clean his room he would get upset. He would rant and rave like a mad man, screaming at me about his position in the archdiocese and his power over my future. On at least one occasion he threw pots and pans around the rectory's kitchen while ranting and raving at me all the more and screaming about his power. 

After refusing to be Adrian's house boy or to be cowed by his power trips, Adrian reported me to the Archbishop saying that I was disobedient and was not suitable for Guam. So I decided to leave Guam and went back to Rome. 

However, before I left, I had met Bishop Camacho and he corresponded with me after I returned to Rome. In the summer of 1993, Bishop Camacho invited me to join him for a pastoral year on Saipan and so I did. However, Archbishop Apuron and Adrian were quite angry to learn of my return to the Pacific. 

I eventually was ordained on July 7, 1996 for the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa (Saipan) and Archbishop Apuron was present. The following morning in the chancery prayer room I overheard Archbishop Apuron expressing his anger to someone about me and was surprised by what I heard, though I kept it to myself. 

In 1998, Archbishop Apuron and Fr. Pius, through Fr. Tenorio, began making inroads into Saipan with the Neocatechumenal Way. Knowing the history of the NCW in England, where I was from, and its having been denounced there by several bishops including the bishop of Clifton who called the NCW a form of “spiritual enslavement,” I worked to stop its growth on Saipan. 

Then all hell began to break loose.

To be continued.