Bishop Mafi was born in 1961 in the capital of Tonga. He is also the youngest to be chosen to be in the college of Cardinals. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pacific Reginal Seminary in Fiji and ordained a priest of the Diocese of Tonga in 1991, where he also served in parishes and as vicar general. He was consecrated a bishop in 2007. He is president of the Pacific bishops conference, and took part in the extraordinary Synod on the Family in 2014.
Archbishop John Dew was born in Waipawa in 1948 and was educated at St. Joseph's School, Waipukurau. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Wellington in 1976, serving in parishes as well a being the archdiocesan youth minister and a chaplain to the Maori community.
In 1995, he was appointed bishop of the Wellington Archdiocese and was appointed Bishop of New Zealand's military ordinariate in 2005. He is president of the New Zealand bishops conference and of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania.
Archbishop John Dew participated in the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist and also in the extraordinary Synod on the Family in 2014. During the Synod on the Eucharist, Archbishop Dew suggested that the divorced and remarried could be admitted to Communion.
New Cardinals
No comments. No one wants to embarass Archbishop Apuron.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 2:54 pm,
DeleteYou failed to see the significance in this post. For the first time in history, two people from the Pacific area has been picked by the Pope to represent our region. It does not matter who they are, but the fact that two people from our region were chosen to be Cardinals is a historic first. It also shows that Pope Francis wants to diversify the Curia to represent the Universal Church. Your hatred for the Archbishop blinded you into recognizing that something historic has just happened.
Actually there was cardinal Pio from Samoa back in the 70's. Also, oceania also includes Australia which had several cardinals. Mafi is 2nd cardinal from Polynesia. The church In Guam/Marianas predates Catholicism in Polynesia by more than a hundred years.
Delete"During the Synod on the Eucharist, Archbishop Dew suggested that the divorced and remarried could be admitted to Communion. "
ReplyDeleteAnd this is a good thing?
archbishop cardinal Dew is a man with vision love for the church, love for the people. He was chosen because of his pastoral qualities love for the universal church. He is respected by cardinals all over the world. Very few in the Vatican respect the ailing bishop of Guam. He is a rather wet joke to many bishop's around the world.
DeleteDear Anonymous February 10, 2015 at 1:53 AM
Deleteailing Arch Bishop of Guam???? He is a rather wet joke????
Your comments clearly show the absence of Christ in your heart.
If you are Catholic...you may want to consider asking forgiveness before receiving the bread.
Every second of our lives...all comments and acts are on record and though all sins are forgiven.....at the end....we will still be held accountable.
J.S.B.
Apuron is first called to be a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. On his day of judgement, in front of God.......he will not ask for the salvation of his soul.
ReplyDeletebut will ask for the salvation of others.
Anonymous Feb 9 2:54.....be thankful that he is praying for our salvation today......and not for titles.
J.S.B.
DeleteAnd so are Fr.Paul and Monsignor James a priest for ever!
Yes they are, no matter how corrupt!
Delete
DeleteMelchesedec is presumed to be Jesus Christ. I don't think benavente and paul can stand on the obedience part.
Monsignor Benavente, Father Paul excellent examples of obedience to the Church. I have a great admiration respect for these two priest's and all priest's who question authority with respect. These are the kind of priest's we want as leaders.
ReplyDeleteDear Ferdinand,
DeleteI would prefer to have a priest like Padre Pio who followed his promise of obedience even when the Pope was wrong. If one cannot obey the person whom God has placed him under, then one cannot obey God.
Ferdinand February 13, 2015 at 12:36 AM
Deletejust what we need.....more leaders.
Maybe we should follow Jesus Christ.....no questions...no complaining....just obeying our Father and dying for us.
ReplyDeleteDear Diana.
You simply don"t understand meaning of contemporary obedience.
ReplyDeleteCommenter Journalist Fr.Matthew Blockley written on conscience obedience .Father Blockley believes bishops are appointed by God through the pope .As bishop's are appointed by God the Holy Spirit works through the bishop. Fr. Blockley writes that when a bishop has lost moral capacity to lead the priest must respond to his own conscience and be directly obedient to the voice of God in the conscience following natural law.
Father Blockley repeated at several dinner meetings that Monsignor James and Fr. Paul are good examples of priestly obedience because they remained obedient to conscience which is above obedience to any bishop.
Father Blockley is very well known for his thinking on important concerns of the church today.
Dear Anonymous at 11:10 pm,
DeleteFather Blockley does not know what is morally right from wrong. He became a priest only because he wanted to become one, not because God called him to be one. He follows only himself.
ReplyDeleteDear Diana.
Very unkind personal opinion on Father Matthew Blockley. True to say Father Blockley does have his own mind but a mind which is very traditional . Recently Our group had the opportunity of meeting Father Matthew Blockley for an intended TV interview. We expected to meet a rogue priest how wrong we were . Father Blockley graciously talked for eight hours on his life one of the longest interviews we sat through. Our group found a charming cultured middle aged gentleman far removed from how he has been portrayed.
To make such a statement about Fr. Blockley is a little harsh.
Dear Anonymous at 12:12 pm,
DeleteFather Blockley wrote a comment on my blog twice. I did not publish both comments because he was extremely rude to one of the commenters. Father Blockley told a commenter to shut his mouth and to get a life. For a priest to make such a comment only goes to show that he does not know what is morally right and wrong. He is unstable and most likely delusional, thinking that someone is always following him or threatening him. He has not only denounced the Archbishop of Guam, but has also turned against Bishop Camacho of Saipan, the bishop who ordained him......most likely due to a lack of priests on the island.
Here's the judgemental attitude we are used to seeing from the NCW. You are in no position to judge the state of this man's motivation or vocation. Disgraceful
DeleteDear Anonymous at 1:19 pm,
DeleteWould you call the following news report of Father Blockley a judgmental attitude??? Why is it that when the jungle calls the Archbishop "evil" is it called the "truth" and not judgmental, and when I call Blockley "rude", "unstable" and "delusional", it is called judgmental? According to another news report on Blockley:
A controversial priest who was expelled from a diocese in New York is “technically” on AWOL (absence without leave) from the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, according to Bishop Thomas Camacho.
In an interview yesterday at his office in Mt. Carmel Church, Camacho confirmed that he ordained Fr. Matthew Blockley in 1996. He said the priest left Saipan sometime in 2000 and never came back.
Blockley, an Englishman, was recently expelled by the Diocese of Rockville Centre and was ordered by Bishop William Murphy to immediately cease presenting himself as a priest on Long Island.
Saipan Tribune learned about this through an e-mail from Newsday reporter Bart Jones, who quoted a Rockville Centre spokesman as saying that Blockley had left New York for the CNMI.
Camacho said, though, that Blockley is not here.
Jones reported that Blockley was brought to New York by Msgr. James Lisante, a Fox news commentator, without the knowledge of the diocese there and that Camacho had suspended him because he did not respond to an instruction that he should return to his home diocese.
Jones also reported that some parishioners at the Our Lady of Lourdes in Massapequa Park were angered by some of Blockley’s actions that included removing the statue of the Our Lady of Fatima from the altar.
Lisante, who became the parish pastor there in June and brought with him Blockley, called the protests an overreaction, adding that it was another priest who removed the statue.
Camacho was saddened by these issues but said he will continue to pray for Blockley because “he is still my responsibility.”
The Bishop recalled that Blockley stayed on Saipan about three years prior to his application to become a priest.
He said Blockley went to the Beda College in Rome, which is exclusively for English seminarians.
He also said Blockley went to the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines about two years ago to take up Business Administration.
The Bishop said he wrote letters to Blockley but has never heard of his whereabouts since then,
https://no2evangelism.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/page/2/
ReplyDeleteDear Diana.
No matter what you personally think towards Fr. Matthew Blockley the fact is he is a priest of Jesus Christ ordained by bishop Tomas and Incardinated into that diocese. He is a part of the pacific church in our islands.
To say that bishop camacho ordained a delusional Father Matthew Blockley due to lack of Priests is an insult to Father Matthew and to bishop camacho. Father Matthew is loved respected by many.
Archbishop Krebs asked that bridges are built between all groups in our community. Where there is division reach out and bring healing.
Fr.Matthew is one of the kindest and gracious priests I have met. Really do not see how you consider him "extremely rude" Humble loving guy .
ReplyDeleteReally not nice to say Bishop Camacho ordained Father Matthew due to lack of priests on Saipan. You may want to insult Father Matthew but should not insult Bishop Camacho. I have forwarded this matter to Archbishop Krebs so he can read the insults made by Diana on this blog.
Dear Anonymous at 6:31 pm,
DeleteCould you also forward the following report to Archbishop Krebs regarding Father Blockley's disobedience to Bishop Camacho and went AWOL. I provided the following weblink for you.
August 9, 2008
http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=317064961
Aug. 9--The Diocese of Rockville Centre has expelled a priest brought here for the last eight summers by Msgr. James Lisante without the diocese's knowledge, and who was suspended recently by his home diocese near Guam.
The Rev. Matthew Blockley, who assisted Lisante, a Fox News commentator, and upset some parishioners in Lisante's new parish in Massapequa Park who said Blockley removed a religious statue, has been ordered by Bishop William Murphy to immediately cease presenting himself as a priest on Long Island.
After learning Blockley was working here without authorization, the bishop also ordered him to cease celebrating public Masses here, Rockville Centre spokesman Sean Dolan said Friday. Murphy then instructed Blockley to immediately return to his home diocese in the Northern Mariana Islands.
"He's no longer in the diocese and he will not be coming back to the diocese," Dolan said. He said Blockley left for the Northern Marianas in the last week or so. Originally from the United Kingdom, Blockley could not be reached for comment Friday.
Lisante acknowledged he should have followed church rules and acted more aggressively to get official permission for Blockley to work here, although he noted the rules were not as strict in 2000 -- when Blockley first arrived -- as they became after the 2002 sex abuse scandal.
Visiting priests must be vetted to ensure there are no problems in their backgrounds.
"No one in the world is saying Father Matthew has done anything wrong," Lisante said. "Father Matthew is a good priest, a hardworking priest. ... There was no issue of faith or morals."
Dolan said he could not comment on whether Lisante was disciplined by Murphy. He said for the last eight years the Diocese of Rockville Centre essentially did not know Blockley was operating here.
He said Blockley was suspended by his bishop in the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in the Northern Marianas apparently because he did not respond to the bishop's instructions to return home. Lisante said Blockley had worked in the Philippines since around 2000 after a falling out with his local bishop.
In 2004, the bishop, Tomas Camacho, placed an announcement in the Archdiocese of Miami's pastoral bulletin asking for assistance in locating Blockley. Camacho did not respond to telephone messages this week.
Lisante, who violated church policy by endorsing John McCain for president in May, said he first met Blockley at a religion conference in 2000 and encouraged him to come to Long Island to provide summer help.
Some parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes in Massapequa Park, a conservative parish, said they were angered by some of Blockley's actions, including his removal of a Our Lady of Fatima statue from the altar. The statue had been in place for 25 years and was a symbol of the parish's orthodox spirituality.
Lisante, who became the parish's pastor June 25, bringing Blockley with him, called the protests an overreaction, and said it was another priest who removed the statue.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/07_08/2008_08_09_Jones_DioceseExpels.htm
I wouldn't talk Heather....who removed the statue at the Santa Rita Church? Here we go again, finger pointing.
DeleteDear Anonymous at 9:17 pm,
DeleteI am not Heather. I do not know what is all this obsession about wanting to know my identity.
ReplyDeleteFather Matthew Blockley is not an Incardinated priest of Guam.
Father Matthew Incardinated in 1995 into the Chaln Kanoa Diocese at the invitation of bishop camacho.
In 2000 he was released from Saipan to work in the Archdiocese of Manila.
In the past 15 years Father Matthew resided outside of the island of Saipan.
Fr. Matthew lives today in the Archdiocese of Manila known to Cardinal Tagle
I doubt very much that Father Matthew is the kind of person who is "walking." or will ever walk in "the way.
Diana, Father Blockley is not important to this blog. He is best left alone in Manila where there is a mutual respect between him and Cardinal Tagle. We are trying to build bridges and bring calmness to the Archdiocese.
Considerable damage to diplomacy took place today.
Dear Anonymous at 1:27 am,
DeleteIn the first place, I was never the one who brought up Father Blockley's name. Anonymous February 13, at 11:10 pm, was the one who brought up his name when he/she wrote about obedience under this thread. Father Blockley is a very poor example to use as a model of obedience, considering those news report.
ReplyDeleteSunday December 21st 2014 Junglewatch Apuron - Martinez.
Father Matthew Blockley published on obedience. Comment closes Fr. Blockley is on the side of God with God on his side no one can do anything against him.
Father Blockley follows himself believing his knowledge inspired by God.