Shea

Sister Rita Shea, O.P.

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Sister Rita Shea, O.P., who served as a director of religious education and teacher in the archdiocese, died March 12 at Dominican Convent in Sparkill. She was 89.

She was director of religious education at St. Francis of Assisi parish, Mount Kisco, 1974-1981, and at a parish in Washington Township, N.J., 1981-1989.

She served as a spiritual director, 1989-2004, before entering Siena Hall Infirmary the next year.

She taught at Aquinas High School, the Bronx, 1967-1974; Thorpe Secretarial School, 1955-1967; and St. Catherine of Siena School, Manhattan, 1947-1950. She also taught at schools in the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Syracuse.

Born in the Bronx, she entered the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill in 1939 and became known as Sister Rita Veronica. She professed final vows in 1946.

Sister Rita earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in theology from Manhattan College, and a master’s in home economics from Columbia University.

She is survived by her sister, Catherine Silber, and brothers, Edward and Robert Shea. A Funeral Mass was offered March 16 at Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel at Dominican Convent. Burial was in St. Agnes Cemetery, Sparkill.

Sister Rita Shea, O.P.