Rowland Onuegbu

Fr. Rowland Onuegbu is the kind of priest people thank after Mass. Parishioners have told him, "This is so helpful and I loved your homily this morning," and others have simply written, "So true. Have a blessed day." He has a thoughtful way about him, blending his background in psychology with his formation as a priest in how he speaks and how he listens. Originally from Nigeria, Fr. Rowland is a member of the Society of Divine Vocations. His path to Central Florida took him first to the Diocese of Fall River in Massachusetts, where he served as a full-time prison chaplain at the Bristol County Correctional Facility and the Barnstable Correctional Facility, and also filled in as part-time chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital. He saw that work as an expression of the mercy of the Church. In 2019, he was transferred to St. Patrick Parish in Wareham, Massachusetts, where he served as Parochial Vicar and introduced Healing Masses, Eucharistic Adoration, youth visits to the elderly, support groups for married couples and the divorced, and chaplaincy for the Knights of Columbus. The Wareham community celebrated his priestly ordination anniversary while he was there.

Fr. Rowland also holds a PhD in psychology and teaches undergraduate courses at Seton Hall University, but the degree means something different to him than it might to most. His parents never had the chance to attend high school. Their education came from elementary schools run by nuns, yet they read, wrote, and expressed themselves beautifully in English and Igbo, and their love of knowledge shaped his path. When the Dean's approval came through in 2020, Fr. Rowland was packing his bags for Nigeria, his first visit home in nearly three years. His mother was no longer here to celebrate the milestone, but his father was. He went straight to him and said, "I did it. I completed what you and Mom started." His father smiled, tapped his shoulders, and said, "That's goooood." That love of learning his parents gave him shows up in how he ministers. He meets people where they are, offering prayer, self-examination, and communal support rather than judgment. Fr. Rowland arrived at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Mount Dora in 2026, stepping into a parish with a rich history and a diverse congregation of English- and Spanish-speaking families. It is a community that has been shaped by decades of pastors before him. Fr. Rowland brings to it a lifetime of ministry in places where people needed him most, a mind that never stops learning, and the kind of presence that makes people feel welcome. As he once wrote, "If we fight evil together we overcome," and that belief in unity is something you feel the moment you meet him.