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IN 1879 he taughtb English in Feldkirch, Austria. In 1884 went to Ditton Hall, England, where he was ordained to the Priesthood in 1887. His Tertianship followed in 1889 at Lancashire, England, after which he left for Cleveland in 1890 and taught English there for three years. He was then assigned to Canisius College in the same capacity for one year after which he returned again to Cleveland where he taught Religion in addition to his English.
He was appointed Rector of Canisius College on January 1, 1897 and held this office until July 25th 1898 when he was appointed Superior of the Buffalo Mission until 1906 when the Mission was incorporated into the Maryland-New York Province. He went to St. Ann's as Operarius and sought and obtained permission to join the California Mission. In 1909 under the direction of Cardinal O'Connell of Boston, he was one of the Founders of the first Catholic College in Tokyo, later Sophia University.
In 1910 he was appointed Socius to the Provincial of California and in 1911 succeeded to this office which he held until 1914. One year as Spiritual Father at the University of San Francisco followed before his appointment as Rector of Mount Saint Michael's, Spokane, Washington until 1915. There followed three one-year stops: Spiritual Father at Missoula, Montana and then Gonzaga at Spokane in the same capacity and finally Minister and Operarius at Santa Barbara, California. In 1923 he was appointed Vice-Provincial for a short time and in 1925 returned as Spiritual Father at Missoula.
Father Rockliff died in Missoula, Montana, December 4, 1926.
His term as President of Canisius saw a drop in the enrollment to 300 students in 1896 and 235 students in 1898. In 1899 the Military Department was discontinued.