Monsignor Robert N. Bush, former longtime priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Abilene, died at the age of 81 on Jan. 17, 2025, in Abilene. Msgr. Bush was pastor of Sacred Heart for 23 years, from 1996 to 2019, when he was reassigned by Bishop Michael Sis of the Diocese of San Angelo to a role of Reduced Active

By  Loretta Fulton Eighteen years later, Chris Howe still remembers the joke his priest made when Howe asked him to preside over his upcoming marriage. Howe asked if Msgr. Robert Bush, then pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, would marry him and his fiance, Sarah. Before Howe had time to realize the wording, the joke was out of Bush’s mouth.