Father Ramon Owera says he’s living in Columbus today rather than in his homeland of the Philippines in large part because of two friends.
“I’d always considered the idea of becoming a priest,” said Father Owera, pastor of Columbus St. Dominic and Holy Rosary-St. John churches, who grew up with four brothers and two sisters in Zamboanga City on the island of Mindanao in the southern part of the Philippine Islands.
“I was an altar server since early in grade school, and at the elevation of the Host, I used to pray for my brothers and I to be priests.”
One brother, Father Jose Owera, CFIC, did become a priest and serves on the Philippine island of Luzon as a member of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception (CFIC, the abbreviation for its name in Italian), the religious order to which Father Ramon belonged before becoming a priest of the Diocese of Columbus.
“As I grew older, that desire faded into the back of my mind but never went away. When I graduated from high school, I could have attended our diocesan seminary but wasn’t yet sure I was being called to the priesthood,” Father Owera said.
“I talked about this with a Jesuit friend of mine, and he recommended that I go to college and gain two or three years of work experience. ‘If God is calling you, you’ll know by then,’ he said. I was a salesman for three years, then taught English as a second language at a school run by an evangelical Christian denomination in my hometown.
“Most of my students were Muslims, and it was the most satisfying thing I had done to that point,” he said. “If I weren’t a priest, I’d probably still be in education.
“At that time, I was also helping at a clinic run by the Queen of Apostles sisters. By then, I realized that my Jesuit friend was right, and that God was calling me. I also had decided I wanted to join an order of priests, but there are so many orders from which to choose.
“A sister friend of mine who knew of my discernment process said a speaker from a group of priests new to the Philippines was going to be at a church in Zamboanga to talk about his order, the Sons of the Immaculate Conception. She suggested that I attend his talk. I did and decided they were worth looking into.
“I entered the order, went to Rome for my postulancy and novitiate and professed my first vows on Sept. 22, 1991. Afterward, I returned to the Philippines to study philosophy and theology in Manila, became a deacon in 1997 and was ordained a priest by Archbishop Carmelo Morelos of Zamboanga at my home parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Zamboanga, on May 30, 1998.”
He was the first Filipino to be ordained a priest of the CFIC order, which was founded in Rome in 1857 and has priests in 20 nations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America. Its other North American locations are in St. Paul, Minnesota; Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary, Canada; and Merida, Mexico.
After ordination, Father Owera served at a formation house and as his order’s vocations director in the Philippines, traveling throughout the island chain to make people familiar with the order.
“In 2005, the order’s superior general called me to Manila and asked me to go to St. Paul and fill a vacant hospital chaplaincy there. That’s what brought me to the United States,” Father Owera said.
“I came to St. Paul at the end of October in 2005.” Earlier that same month, Auxiliary Bishop Frederick Campbell had left the Diocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis to become bishop of Columbus. Bishop Campbell would play a significant role in Father Owera’s life, but not until six years later.
Father Owera spent two years at St. Paul, then was transferred in 2007 to the Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario, where he served as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Church for four years.
In 2011, the need arose for a hospital chaplain in Columbus, and Bishop Campbell contacted the Sons of the Immaculate Conception, with whom he had become familiar in Minnesota, to see if they could provide someone to fill that position.
Father Owera was recommended for the job, and Bishop Campbell invited him and Father Jose Manickathan, CFIC, to Columbus in 2011.
“I had completed my clinical pastoral education courses in Minnesota, was fully qualified to be a chaplain and spent five years with the Mount Carmel and OhioHealth systems, living at Columbus Holy Cross Church and helping at other parishes where needed,” Father Owera said.
“Hospital ministry has always been a great experience for me because so often you see people near the end of their lives, and you can bring them the sense of peace they need. Sometimes for them you are also an instrument of conversion, giving them a chance to reconcile for mistakes they’ve made and to leave them with hope for the next step in their journey.”
When Father Charles Cotton retired as pastor of Columbus St. Elizabeth Church in 2016, Bishop Campbell, with permission from the order, decided to replace him with two CFIC priests – Father Owera and Father John Vadakkettom – because of the shortage of priests in the Columbus diocese.
The order now has four priests in Columbus – two at St. Elizabeth and two as hospital chaplains in residence at Columbus St. Philip Church. All four, along with many other diocesan and order priests, have been given other assignments as of Tuesday, July 11 as part of the diocese’s Real Presence Real Future initiative.
“At St. Elizabeth’s, it was the first time I was a parish administrator. I know that it was a learning experience for me, and it took a lot of adjustment for the parishioners,” Father Owera said.
“For one thing, people had to get used to my accent. I learned to be clear in pronunciation and to speak slowly so people could know what I was saying. It was a great thing to hear Father Charlie say he could understand me.”
Three years later came another significant change as Father Owera was transferred to his current position. “The people at St. Dominic and Holy Rosary-St. John were very welcoming and understanding, and it’s been quite an experience because St. Elizabeth’s and these parishes are so different,” he said.
“St. Elizabeth’s is a suburban parish while St. Dominic and Holy Rosary-St. John are inner-city churches with mainly African American congregations.
“Masses at the two parishes are a joy because the congregations are so alive. Usually there’s a Gospel choir shouting, dancing and clapping, and when it’s time for the sign of peace, everyone moves around the church greeting and hugging each other. What takes a minute or two in most parishes takes 15 or 20 here. You can feel the enthusiasm. It’s a very approachable experience.”
Father Owera lives at neither of the two parishes he serves, but again is in residence at Holy Cross Church. Holy Rosary-St. John is in the same neighborhood as Nationwide Children’s Hospital and he goes to the hospital every Tuesday and Thursday, celebrating Mass on Tuesdays at noon and walking through the complex on both days.
“This allows me to continue my work as a chaplain. The hospital administrators are delighted to have a Catholic chaplain here again,” he said. Father Sylvester Onyeachonam had served in that role for nine years, became pastor of Delaware St. Mary Church in 2019 and now is pastoral care director for the Trinity Health system in North Dakota.
“It’s a different kind of experience being a chaplain in a hospital where most of the patients are just starting their lives instead of near the end,” he said. “Whenever I make the rounds here, I’m greeted with appreciation and deep gratitude by the families. I motivate them, and they motivate me.
“No matter what type of hospital, the message is the same – the hope that comes through Jesus and the knowledge that God loves the patient.”
Father Owera was incardinated – the formal term for being under the supervision of a bishop or other ecclesiastical superior – into the Diocese of Columbus on July 1, 2018 and no longer is a member of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception.
“I made the decision for personal and practical reasons,” he said. “I’m close to retirement, feel at home in Columbus and would like to stay here after my retirement.
“If I remained with the order, I’d have to return to the Philippines, where I have nothing to go back to, and my pension would go to the order. Here I’ve become well-established, can stay close to people I’ve come to love, and my pension goes to me.
“It’s a continuing challenge to be an inspiration to the people I serve and to live out the faith I preach, especially to try to bring the young back to the church,” Father Owera said. “But I’m not worried. My attitude is: Do the best you can where you are called, and God will do the rest.
“Sometimes priests try to solve too many problems and get a Messianic complex. That’s the time to remember there’s someone greater to than you, and you need to put things in His hands.”