Holy Face Catholic Church, circa 1940

By Alan V. Cecil
ST. MARY’S TODAY

Celebrating the salvation that Jesus Christ brought to the world is something that Christians do on a regular basis. On June 4, 2006 the parishioners at Holy Face Catholic Church in Great Mills, Md. also celebrated the 35 years of Christian service of their pastor, Fr. Joseph R. Sileo. Fr. Joe was deeply involved with special needs education for most of his professional life and then on June 15, 2004 he commenced his Christian assignment of being the pastor for Holy Face Church. The 11:30 AM Sunday service was followed by a sumptuous picnic celebration for Fr. Joe’s anniversaries of both being a priest and his arrival in St. Mary’s County. In an exclusive interview he told me that he hails from “New Jersey, just across from New York City.” He attended graduate school in Syracuse and then seminary in Baltimore. About 800 families comprise the Holy Face Church family.
In his sermon, Fr. Joe emphasized that “there are times in our lives when we need to be revived…and we can learn from our evangelical friends…we have to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus received the gift of the Holy Spirit when he was baptized in the River Jordan…Look at those people at Holy Face Church in Great Mills, they are really moving in the direction of the Holy Spirit.” A prime example of this ‘direction’ is Eagle Scout candidate Dominic Lece who presented his scout project of community service to the church. His project is creating a pond and waterfall near the rectory.
Above the altar in the sanctuary and behind an amazingly beautiful crucifix suspended from the ceiling is a beautiful memorial stained glass window with historical dates of the church’s history emblazoned.
Near the old Clifton Mill (site) on Indian Bridge Road, St. Mary’s County, Md. is the location that was once a one-room village store that, thanks to a gift of W.W. Cecil to the Catholic Church, became the ‘Guardian Angel Chapel’ in 1879. This church served the Great Mills community until l887 when the first Holy Face Church was erected across the road. Both the original chapel site and the original church are adjacent to the well known ‘Cecil’s Country Store” and “Cecil’s Mill”. The Great Mills Community participated in raising the first church built on property donated by John B. Cecil. Mass was celebrated only one Sunday and on the first Friday of the month in the early years of the new Holy Face Church. It is said that for events, the priest would travel from the rectory in St. Inigoes to Great Mills and stay the night before services in a two-story sacristy.
The ‘Mother County’ hamlet of Great Mills and the Cecil family have been synonymous in many ways for generations. The original water powered textile mill for processing cotton, known as ‘Clifton Factory’, was built in l812. John Thomas Cecil rebuilt it in l900 as a flour mill and the country store and post office in l906. On the Sunday morning of my Church Visit to Holy Face Church I met Michael Cecil and daughter Samantha while photographing the historic district. They are direct descendants of the founding donors of the historic church and chapel properties
Holy Faith Catholic Church: Pastor: Rev, Joseph R. Sileo ~ 20408 Point Lookout Rd., Great Mills, Md. 20634 ~ Phone: 301 994 0525 ~ E-mail: holyface@erols.com ~ Web site: www.holyfacechurch.org ~ Confessions: Saturday: 4:15 or by appointment ~ Eucharist: Saturday 5:00 PM; Sunday 7:00 AM, 9:00AM, 11:30 AM; Daily: 8:00AM Monday thru Friday, Tuesday: 10:00 AM during school year.