The England international opened the scoring in the 40th minute and supplied the pass for strike partner Ruud van Nistelrooy to increase the lead in the 76th minute.
Republic of Ireland international Stephen Elliott reduced the deficit in the 82nd minute with his first ever Premiership goal, only for substitute Giuseppe Rossi to put the issue beyond doubt five minutes later.
Sunderland were without influential midfield duo Julio Arca and Christian Bassila, while the Reds Devils left out in-form Wales skipper Ryan Giggs and Scotland international Darren Fletcher had to be content with a place on the substitute bench.
But the loss of perhaps their two best players failed to dampen the enthusiasm of Mick McCarthy's side and from the first minute when Mikael Silvestre was forced to head behind Elliott's centre, the Red Devils were under pressure.
United relied on the ever dangerous Rooney to try and grasp the initiative away from the home side, the England striker twice forcing his way into shooting positions without troubling Kelvin Davis.
Only a brilliant save by Edwin Van der Sar in fact prevented Sunderland from going ahead in the 13th minute. Dean Whitehead's centre was headed behind by Silvestre and from Liam Larence's flag kick, Gary Breen's powerful header was pushed against the angle of post and bar by the Dutchman.
Elliott turned in style to hammer a low shot across the diving Van der Sar and after Whitehead had been booked for a foul on Park Ji-Sung, Paul Scholes fired past the post at the other end.
Sunderland, however, continued to carve out the better openings and should have broken the deadlock in the 26th minute. The lively Andy Welsh wanted too much time in bringing a loose ball under control and allow Van der Sar to dive at his feet and clear the danger.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson emerged from the stands to bellow instructions at his below-par players which had an immediate effect. Scholes, a subdued van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo linked to force the Reds first corner after half an hour and after Ronaldo had been booked for foolishly kicking the ball away, went ahead in trademark fashion.
Welsh lost possession near the halfway line and Park wasted no time in surging forward to release Rooney. The England international raced clear, went wide of Davis and despite the frantic efforts of Justin Hoyte to keep the ball out, calmly found the back of the net.
Rooney forced a fine finger-tip save from Davis on the hour and only a desperate goalline clearance by Breen denied the impressive Park.
The second goal duly arrived, however in the 76th minute. Rooney slipped the ball through the middle for van Nistelrooy to outpace Stephen Caldwell and fire past Davis for his tenth goal of the season.
Elliott raised hopes for the Black Cats fans with a superb left-foot strike after 76 minutes. The lively Welsh tormented the Reds defence to find Whitehead who in turn set up Elliott to fire home just inside the post.
Van der Sar made another fine stop in the 85th minute from substitute Anthony Le Tallac's superbly struck free-kick, but Rossi ensured there was no fairytale ending when latching on to a loose ball and beat Davis from 25 yards.
The margin of defeat was tough for the hard-working Black Cats but class told in the end once United had forged ahead.
Man of the Match: Wayne Rooney - Carried on from where he left off in helping England to top the World Cup qualifying group with victory over Poland in midweek. Gave the home side a lesson in finishing.