Catechumen brings family to the Church

Friday, Mar. 06, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — During the Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, CaLee Przybylski, her husband and four children will be baptized into the Catholic Church. It will be the final step in a journey that began when she was a child, resettling in Utah with her parents and siblings, refugees from Laos.

Her family practiced Buddhism and would go to the Buddhist temple for special occasions, “which was fine, but I didn’t feel that I had the guidance that I needed because there’s no teaching,” Przybylski said. 

Instead, she felt a connection with God. “Even when I was younger, I just had this urge that before bed I would kneel at the side of my bed and then I would pray,” she said. “As far as I remember I never prayed for the help from Buddha; it was always ‘Dear God.’” 

That relationship continued to reveal itself when she grew up and married. Pregnant with her first child, she worked the late shift at a company located in an area of town where there were reports of violent crimes. One evening her sister was late picking her up. As other employees departed, Przybylski felt scared, so she began to pray to God, and within a minute her sister arrived. 

“I just knew that the time I needed him the most, and I was so scared, I felt like he came and sent her to me,” she said. 

Then, when she heard the news of Pope John Paul II’s death, she couldn’t stop crying, even though she knew very little about him, she said. 

So, while living in Colorado, she began to attend Rite of Christian Initiation classes, but because of circumstances, was unable to complete them.

Subsequently, her first marriage ended, she re-married, and her father died. She returned to Utah to be with family when her husband was deployed overseas with the U.S. Marine Corps, and she decided to heed the call of the Holy Spirit. An Internet search for “Catholic Church in Utah” turned up the Cathedral of the Madeleine, so she went for a visit.

“I remember when I walked through that door I felt that I wasn’t worthy; I knew there were things in my life that I needed to confess, that needed forgiveness, that needed support, and that needed answers,” she said. 

Sitting in a pew, she looked at the crucifix behind the altar and felt an overwhelming sadness because of Christ’s sacrifice, but also a sense of relief, she said. “I knew this was the right thing, but I knew it was up to me to take it upon myself in order to be forgiven. …  I felt I was blessed for having a husband, being able to have my family, of having everything. Even with my father passing, I finally developed a sense of forgiveness of myself, as in ‘You know what? I’m not mad at God. God sent me my father to teach me things that are better for myself and what kind of person I should be and what I can do for myself to honor him.’”

Her husband and children supported her decision to attend RCIA classes, she said; her mother told her to do what made her happy. 

“With that response I knew it was the right thing,” said Przybylski, who works two part-time jobs and is earning a bachelor’s degree online through the University of Phoenix. She also teaches the 3rd-grade catechism class at the cathedral parish.

When she began to attend Mass, she invited her children – Ayleena, Niko, Kyleena and Kain – to join her. They did, and “my oldest daughter told me that when she entered the cathedral she had this feeling that she knew that it was right path,” she said. 

Then her husband, Edward, sat in on an RCIA class and later joined the program. At the Easter Vigil, the entire family will be baptized and all but the youngest child, who is 5, will receive their First Communion.

Przybylski’s conversion story is remarkable in how quickly and easily she accepted the Catholic faith, said Deacon Scott Dodge, adding that her journey has been unique in other ways as well.

“It’s very rare in my experience with RCIA at the Cathedral of the Madeleine that a catechumen brings their family in,” said the deacon, who has been involved with RCIA for 20 years. 

In addition, many of those who inquire into the faith are at least culturally Christian, whereas Przybylski had very basic questions about the background of the Catholic faith, he said; however, she did have an established prayer life, which many beginning catechumens don’t.

Przybylski said she is anxious for the Easter Vigil because then she will be able to join the rest of the parish family in receiving the Eucharist rather than being dismissed after the homily. “I feel like I’m going to be complete,” she said.