Ursuline Sister of Louisville Martha (Olga) Buser died Nov. 18 at Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She was 92 and in her 73rd year of religious life.
Sister Buser entered the Ursuline Sisters in 1950 and began her ministry as a teacher in Louisville, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In Louisville, she taught at St. Leo School and her alma mater Sacred Heart Academy.
In the 1970s, she served as director of formation for the Ursuline Sisters. In 1975, she completed an internship in spiritual direction at the Jesuit Renewal Center in Milford, Ohio, and in 1977 began serving as a retreat director and supervisor of interns at the center.
She founded the Angela Prayer Center in Louisville in 1979 and led it until 1987.
In 1984, she became involved in the Archdiocese of Louisville’s Diaconate Office, serving initially as an instructor and then as associate director and director of the office.
In 1997, she began serving as the first director of the Ursuline Sisters’ Angela Merici Center for Spirituality. She was also involved in the formation of Ursuline Associates.
Sister Buser was named Sacred Heart Academy Alumnae of the Year in 2007 and received the Distinguished Service Award from Wayside Christian Mission in 2008.
She is the author of two books, “Also in Your Midst” and “Lover of Us All,” about St. Angela Merici, foundress of Ursuline Sisters. She also gave retreats and presentations on the charism and spirituality of Angela Merici to Ursulines in Canada, Italy, Belgium, South Africa and throughout the United States
She was active in her parish, St. John Paul II Church, and in her ministry of spiritual direction. She wrote reflections on spirituality for the Ursulines’ online blog until her death.
She is survived by her nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, great-great-nieces and nephews, as well as her community of Ursuline Sisters and Associates.
Visitation will be held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 27 at the Ursuline Motherhouse in the Desenzano Conference Room (library), with a vigil at 3:30 p.m.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. in the Motherhouse Chapel on Nov. 28, with burial to follow in St. Michael Cemetery. The funeral will be live-streamed at https://vimeo.com/event/3895514.
Expressions of sympathy may be made to the Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford, 5361 S. Milford Road, Milford, Ohio, 45150, or the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, Donor Relations Office, 3115 Lexington Road, Louisville, Ky., 40206.
