The Archbishop, Monsignors, Priests, Religious, Knights, JDPC Staff and Lay Faithful of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan, gathered on Thursday 5th November, 2021, at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church, Mokola, Ibadan to bid Very Rev. Fr. Ezekiel Adegboyega Ishola OWOEYE farewell. Until his death, Fr. Owoeye was the Chaplain of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Catholic Chaplaincy, University of Ibadan, as well as the Director of the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Ibadan Archdiocese.
Fr. Richard Omolade, a classmate and friend of late Fr. Ezekiel Owoeye, acknowledged that the death of his colleague was a colossal loss to the entire Archdiocese of Ibadan and beyond. He said this in his homily at the Memorial Mass organized in honour of the late priest.
Fr. Omolade described the late JDPC Director as a very diligent man with great influence within and outside the Archdiocese. “Fr. Ezekiel has done his best. He was a great man with lots of influence within and outside the Archdiocese. He did a lot and always worried about people. He never celebrated mediocrity, rather he would say the truth the way it was and damned the consequences. Often if he noticed anyone among the priests doing something contradicting the norms, he used to say “This is not how the missionaries handed this vocation over to us,” the homilist said.
Speaking further, Fr. Omolade said late Fr. Owoeye wanted a rest, but couldn’t get it until his death. “Ever since our ordination on 7th August 1993, I’ve known Fr. Ezekiel to be a very hardworking type, whose influence can be felt in the Archdiocese and beyond. He wanted a rest because he usually say jokingly “I will just run away and hide somewhere from all of you”, and now, God has called him to come and rest from his struggles. We pray that God shall grant his soul eternal rest,” he highlighted.
To the congregation, he advised that preparation is the key to happy death, that they should live their lives as if the moment is their last. He said: “Dearly beloved, let us live our now as if our last moment is here. Each of us has limited time and sooner or later, we shall die. Let us prepare for death all the time because it is only when we are prepared we can face the reality of death. Many were asking whether God is still with us when we lost three priests within two months, but I want to tell us that God is here, if not, it could have been more than this,”
The Mass was celebrated by His Grace Most Rev. Gabriel Abegunrin, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Ibadan Archdiocese, and concelebrated by the Bishop Emeritus of Ilorin Diocese, Most Rev. Ayo Maria Atoyebi, and many Priests within and outside the Archdiocese. The congregation was made of many religious houses, lay faithful and the immediate family of Late Fr. Owoeye.
In his closing remarks, Archbishop Abegunrin commiserated with the members of Owoeye family by asking them to take solace in the good testimonies about their late brother. He prayed for the happy repose of the soul of Fr. Owoeye whom he described as a faithful and diligent priest.
- John TAKURO