At the Easter Vigil on March 30, 2024 in churches across The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, about 1,350 people will enter into full Communion with the Catholic Church, including the elect, those who have not been baptized and are preparing to receive at Easter all three of the Catholic Church’s sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. Also becoming full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil will be candidates, those who have already been baptized in the Catholic faith or who have been baptized in another Christian faith and who are preparing to receive the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. Some people preparing to become full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in the archdiocese share the stories of their journeys of faith in this Lenten series of articles.
Her mother’s tragic death led Alicia Abresch on a path to Christianity, and later, the devout Catholic faith of her husband and his family in Southern Maryland inspired her to become Catholic. And at the Easter Vigil at St. John Vianney Church in Prince Frederick, Alicia Abresch will have the special blessing of receiving her First Communion along with her 8-year-old daughter Aria.
Alicia Abresch had been raised in a household in Virginia where her mother was from India and practiced the Hindu faith and her father was Persian with family roots in Iran and practiced the Muslim faith. “Both my parents were very vested in their religion. I grew up both Muslim or Hindu. They were very strict. I went to either mosque or temple weekly,” she said in an interview.
When Alica Abresch was 17, her mother was murdered. Following that tragedy, “I was on a soul-searching journey, I wasn’t sure where God or religion fit in anymore,” she said.
While studying at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, she had friends who invited her to join them at their services in a non-denominational Christian church. “I very much loved that, I started having faith in Jesus and God,” she said.
After college, she attended Chesapeake Church in Huntingtown, Maryland. Later, she fell in love with Benjamin Abresch, and they were married at the courthouse in Prince Frederick. Her husband and his family are active parishioners at St. John Vianney Church in Prince Frederick. “Every so often, I’d go to Mass with them and learn about the Catholic faith,” she said.
Alicia Abresch, who works in human resources for the state of Maryland, now lives with her husband and their four children in Huntingtown. When she and her husband began having their children – two girls and two boys who now range in age from 8 years old to 19 months old – “my husband and his family were very adamant about them being baptized in the Catholic Church and going to CCD (classes),” she said.
When their oldest child, their daughter Aria, began attending religious education classes at St. John Vianney Parish, they needed a kindergarten aide to help teach the children. “I offered to do it, I figured this would help me learn along with my daughter, now I’ve been doing kindergarten CCD for three years,” Alicia Abresch said, adding that helped her learn the basics of the Catholic faith and about Christianity in general. “I really wanted to learn about the faith, and I figured this was a great way to do it,” she said, adding that she didn’t want her children to wonder why they were Catholic and their mother wasn’t. “I wanted to be an example for my kids,” she said.
After preparing to become Catholic through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program at her parish, Alicia Abresch will receive the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil. “My husband is really excited, we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary next year and hoping to have a Catholic wedding, having our vows renewed and therefore being able to receive the marriage sacrament,” she said.
On Feb. 25, Alicia Abresch and people from her parish and from throughout The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington who are preparing to become full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion liturgy, where they were formally welcomed on their faith journey by Cardinal Wilton Gregory.
She got there early, and joined her mother-in-law in visiting one of the shrines to Mary at the basilica, and they each lit a candle beforehand. “When I lit mine, I had asked for a sign, feeling or something to really confirm that I was on the right path and this is where I was supposed to be,” she said. “As I lit the candle, I was thinking, ‘Okay Mary, this is my last-ditch effort, please help me with this aha moment.’”
Alicia Abresch noted, “That night, I dreamt of my own mother, who I seldom dream of, and to the side of her was Mother Mary, and my mother said, ‘Alicia, I see and love you, you are on the right path and this is where you belong.’ That was my sign, and I woke up, sobbing tears, and overcome with joy and love.”
As the Easter Vigil approached, Alicia Abresch said she was most looking forward to receiving her First Communion along with her daughter Aria, who is now in the second grade. “Honestly, I never thought I would gravitate as strongly to the Catholic faith, and I definitely have, and I’m loving every second of it,” she said.
Alicia Abresch hopes that by sharing her story, she can help others find hope and faith after a family tragedy. At her parish, she added that “I would love to be more active in RCIA and helping others with their journey to Catholicism. I think (that as) somebody on the opposite end of that spectrum growing up, and where I am now, I hope I can help others whatever their journey looks like.”
