Ann Przybylski works on an upcoming episode of the Daily Mass, one of many tasks she does for the diocese. (Dan Cappellazzo/Staff Photographer)

In the diocesan Office of Communications, a variety of individuals with talents in the fields of writing, editing, copyediting and videography work together to produce Catholic media for Western New York and the rest of the United States. For Daybreak TV Productions, part of the office, one individual who makes things happen every day as a jack-of-all-trades is Ann Przybylski, whose official title is that of administrative assistant and bookkeeper, but her actual job behind the TV scenes consists of much more than this.

Przybylski, who has worked for Daybreak for four-and-a-half years, was hired to work as a bookkeeper for Daybreak TV Productions and Telecommunications. She also is responsible for creating closed captions and graphics for Sunday Televised Masses while they are being taped, answer viewer calls and mail, running the teleprompter, assist with computer issues, ordering office supplies, maintaining the Daybreak website, and fulfilling DVD orders for Daybreak.

A parishioner of St. Bernadette Parish in Orchard Park, Przybylski and her husband, Dan, live there after having moved from Elma in 2006, and her job has enhanced her own faith. "It's definitely all for the good of the Church," she commented. "It's all mission work, especially when I close caption the "Sunday TV Mass". I'm actually watching the Sunday Mass while it's being taped, and then I go back and I watch it another three times while I'm doing the closed captioning. It really makes me stop and realize how important it is."

Through her work with the Sunday Mass, Przybylski said Daybreak TV Productions is a spiritual lifeline for Catholics who have become homebound and would not be able to attend a Sunday Mass.

Over the years, her job has expanded from administrative and bookkeeping tasks. In past years, two Daybreak staff members who have since left and whose positions were not filled, performed many of the jobs that Przybylski does today. However, she's been more than up to the challenge of wearing these many different hats for Daybreak.

"Absolutely. I like to be busy, and doing something different," Przybylski said.

When asked to name her favorite aspect of her job, Przybylski enjoys maintaining the website as she has a degree in computer science. She received a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Fredonia in 2012, after having worked in the industry for 25 years. After holding a certificate, she decided to go back to school in 2008. Before joining Daybreak, she was a director of religious education, bookkeeper, computer teacher and parish secretary at Annunciation Parish in Elma, where she and her family used to live.

"Back in the mid '90s, I used to volunteer there and I used to write programs for the business manager to analyze the money that the church was taking in, what was being spent," Przybylski added.

Through working for Daybreak TV Productions and attending Mass at St. Bernadette's, Przybylski has also come to know Father Paul Seil, host of "Our Daily Bread," the popular cooking show that Daybreak produces monthly that also allows viewers to learn a great deal more about the local Church and its ministries. She noted that in order to continue these ministries, the department always needs funding.

As of late April, the Communications office was preparing for the Catholic Communications Campaign, since it is a local beneficiary of funds that help Catholic diocesan media perform tasks and ministry throughout the country.

"It's very important, because for our department, in Daybreak, we actually do jobs for outside people, so we earn some money, but in order for us to stay afloat, the whole Communications department, really, we need the monies from the campaign to help us, definitely," Przybylski commented.  

Consider donating to the Catholic Communication Campaign.