Catholics
Should
Keep
Social
Issues
at
Top of
Agenda;
Embrace
Standards
of Faith
ST.
MARY’S
TODAY
GREAT
MILLS --
“Marriage
is a
legal
contract,
matrimony
is the
sacrament,”
he said.
“We do
not
recognize
divorce.
We are
pro-life
and
neither
abortion
nor the
death
penalty
do we
support,”
the
Catholic
priest
said in
a
matter-of-fact
way.
And many
may
agree
changing
a spouse
should
not be
as
simple
as, or
faster
than,
changing
a pair
of used
socks.
Rev.
Joseph
R.
Sileo,
pastor
of the
Holy
Face
Church
in Great
Mills,
said he
felt the
movie Da
Vinci
Code
would
have no
impact
on those
who know
their
faith,
but
might
affect
those
who are
unsure
and
whose
beliefs
are
shaky.
“I saw
the film
and read
the
book.
Personally
I feel,
the
movie
was
rather
dull. It
should
have
been
more
exciting,”
Sileo
told ST.
MARY’S
TODAY in
an
interview
on
diverse
topics
Wednesday.
“If you
know the
scriptures,
there’s
nothing
in the
film
that
would
change
you,” he
said.
Mark
Shea, a
nationally
known
speaker,
addressed
a forum
on the
controversial
film at
the
Immaculate
Heart of
Mary.
Several
hundred
people
attended.
“We
distributed
little
pamphlets
about
the book
and the
movie,”
Sileo
said.
Sileo,
who
completes
two
years of
pastoral
service
in St.
Mary’s
on June
15, has
served
in the
Archdiocese
of
Washington
for 35
years.
He was a
pastor
at the
Nativity
Church
in
Washington
DC for
nine
years
and his
long
career
includes
a stint
as
director
for
recruitment
and
professional
development
for
teachers
and
principals
in
Catholic
Schools.
Sileo
explains
the
Catholic
Church
keeps
social
service
at the
top of
its
mission.
“The
diocese
has
completed
a 167
million
fundraiser.
One of
the
items is
the
expansion
of
Angel’s
Watch
either
in St.
Mary’s
or
Calvert
County,”
said
Sileo.
Sileo
said
local
Catholics
are
aware of
the drug
and
alcohol
problem
challenging
the
community
as a
whole.
“We
support
the
pastoral
counseling
center
which is
housed
at the
Ascension
Episcopal
Church.
We do
drug
education
in
school,
in teen
groups
and thru
religious
education,”
he said.
Sileo
said a
parental
education
program
was in
place to
help
them
recognize
symptoms
of drug
use in
children.
He said
efforts
were
also
underway
to
coordinate
a youth
program
on drug
education
for
teenagers.
Sileo
emphasized
the
Catholic
school
system
is not
an
alternative
to the
public
school
system.
“The
biggest
difference
is
faith-based,
value-centered
moral
education,”
Sileo
said.
“We
focus on
the
child as
a whole,
body,
soul,
mind and
spirit.”
The
values
taught
include
respect
for each
other,
concern
for the
neighbor
and
volunteerism
to help
the
needy,
he
explains.
Some
other
social
service
programs
in which
local
Catholic
churches
are
involved
in a big
way
include
Care-net
Pregnancy
Center,
money
and food
for the
HOPE
program
and
support
to the
hospice.
He said
the Holy
Face and
other
Catholic
churches
in the
area
were in
perfect
sync
with one
another
and
there
was
absolutely
no
competition
amongst
them.
“We all
work
very
cooperatively.
We have
a
deanery
and the
priests
meet
once a
month
and
discuss
how we
can help
one
another,”
he said.
He was
relieved
to note
the
churches
in
Southern
Maryland,
and in
fact the
larger
archdiocese
of
Washington
D.C.
jurisdiction
weathered
the sex
scandals
that
rocked
the
Catholic
world
unscathed.
He said
Southern
Maryland
was not
affected
but
membership
did
decline
nationally.
“We
experienced
an
increase
in
membership
in
Southern
Maryland
this
year,”
he said.
“There’s
been a
lack of
respect.
Certainly
the sex
scandals
hurt us.
Issues
of
transparency
and
faith
questioning
have to
be
answered,”
he said.
Sileo
said to
address
those
issues a
four-year
program
“Why
Catholic”
was
launched
in
spring
to
explore
and
explain
the
cornerstones
of the
faith.
The Holy
Face
parish
began a
yearlong
125th
anniversary
celebration
on
September
11,
2004.
Sileo
was
delighted
more
than 300
people
participated.
“People
have
been
very
open and
warm,”
he said
of his
experience
in St.
Mary’s.
“We have
been
doing a
lot of
work on
the
physical
plant,
particularly
at the
school,”
Sileo
said.
Having
attended
Catholic
Schools
for 16
years
from
First
Grade
thru
undergraduate,
Sileo
has been
a
lifelong
learner.
He has
two
bachelors
and
three
masters
degrees
and is a
Ph.D. in
school
psychology.
“Most of
my work
is with
children
who have
developmental
or
learning
disabilities,”
he said.
Born in
1943 in
a small
town in
New
Jersey,
the
laidback
and
down-to-earth
pastor
is the
eldest
of five
children.
“My
parents,
both 90,
are
living
in New
Jersey,”
he said.
