
Dominican Sister of Peace Rita Busch, OP (96), a native of Pittsburgh, PA, died on January 25, 2021, at Mount Carmel East Hospital in Columbus, OH.
Sr. Rita, born in 1924, was one of three children born to Othelia Aschenbrenner and Frank Busch. She attended Duquesne University and worked for nearly fifteen years before entering the Congregation in 1956. She would have celebrated 64 years of consecrated religious life this year.
Sr. Rita earned her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Saint Mary of the Springs College, now Ohio Dominican University, and her Master of Science in Business Education from Hunter College.
She began her ministry as a teacher of business and history, and taught in primary and secondary schools in Connecticut, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Sr. Rita was treasurer at both of the Congregation’s founded colleges, Albertus Magnus College in New Haven and Ohio Dominican in Columbus. She also served the Diocese of Columbus as secretary to Bishop Edward Hermann for ten years, as an Administrative Assistant in the Department of Religious Education, and as administrative assistant in Saint Mary’s Parish in Lancaster, OH.
Sr. Rita also served the Congregation as Development Director in the 1990’s before entering into a ministry of prayer and presence in Columbus, OH.
In her preaching at the funeral Sr. Mary Faith Geelan spoke of Sr. Rita’s entrance to religious life. “Rita entered the congregation at the age of 31 and as she said, ‘I had everything, a good life, security, a pension….’ When I asked what led her to make the decision to enter religious life she said, ‘the hound of heaven never let me go.’”
She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Othelia Aschenbrenner Busch, and her sisters, Mary Elizabeth Busch, and Claire B. Schweibinz Meredith. She is survived by a niece and nephew, a grandniece and nephew, and her friend, Janice Wilson.
Sr. Rita was interred in a private graveside service on January 29, 2021, at St. Joseph Cemetery in Columbus, OH.
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