Sister Rita Robl, ASC, who spent her life teaching and helping others on their spiritual quest, died Sunday, November 15, 2020, at the Wichita Center, in Wichita, Kansas. She was 90 years old and had been a professed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ for 72 years.
Sister Rita was vibrant and full of wisdom and viewed life’s challenges as opportunities to explore God’s work in progress.
She was born during the Great Depression, on August 19, 1930, on a small wheat farm in Ellinwood, Kansas. At her home baptism, her mother draped her crib with wet towels to assist her breathing during choking dust storms that swept the region. She had a simple, poor, but happy upbringing, and attended a one-room schoolhouse before transferring to a Catholic school in a neighboring town.
She attended the Adorers’ Sacred Heart Academy boarding school in Wichita, and entered the convent in 1946. She made final vows in July 1953. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Kansas Newman College in 1957, and a master’s from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
Sister Rita taught upper grades in Kansas at All Saints in Wichita (1949-1955); St. Nicholas in Kinsley (1955-1960); St. Patrick in Plains (1960-1963); and St. Ann in Olmitz (1963-1964). She was principal at St. Eugene in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1964-1972) and Sacred Heart in Emporia (1972-1983).
While in Oklahoma City, a small faith crisis led her to explore charismatic renewal and eventually she became a leader in the movement.
In 1983, she opened Centro Sangre de Cristo spirituality center in Carlsbad, New Mexico, while studying spiritual direction in the summer in Pecos. The center was forced to close and she returned to Wichita, where she eventually opened Acuto Center for Renewal at Kansas Newman College and later at the Wichita Center.
Her last venture was the Great Plains Earth Institute, which she founded in 1997 and ran until her retirement in 2008.
Sister Rita Robl is survived by family, friends, and her Sister Adorers of the Blood of Christ.
I’m so grateful to have spent so many happy hours with Sister Rita Robl. What an amazing and beautiful soul. My condolences to her family and to her friends and the Adorers community.
Sister Rita’s life was a living example of building a faith based life. She was much loved and will be greatly missed.
A better person I have never known. Rita and I spent years as friends. It all started at the time of the opening of Acuto Center and now she lives on in my heart. That friendship is forever in God’s love.
Sister Rita had a very special spirit that surrounded her….
She brought such joy to all that knew her……she never judged me
she just accepted who I was and my journey thru life……..she was
always by my side..even in dark, dark times….she was a special, special
gift to the Universe…….and like so many others she will live in my
heart forever…….charlotte Janzen
She was very special..with a special purpose in
this lifetime…..cheering and guiding other souls
on their journey…….I am a better person because
of Rita….Charlotte Janzen