By Dick Broom
The Fenceviewer
November 26, 2010
http://fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53160:Pastor%20Here%20to%20Heal%20a%20Church%E2%80%99s%20Wounds&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=166
A minister who specializes in helping to heal wounded churches has been named interim pastor at the United Church of Christ (UCC) of Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor.
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Rev. Linda Hatch, who lives in Ellsworth, assumed the duties Nov. 2.
Part of her job is to help the congregation recover from the internal divisions and turmoil that accompanied the departure of long-time minister William “Mac” Bigelow.
Rev. Bigelow was suspended from the ministry in July by a UCC investigative panel that determined he had sexually abused a teenage boy over a period of three years about three decades ago and had continued to harass the victim. Rev. Bigelow has not denied that the sexual abuse occurred, but has denied any ongoing harassment.
Rev. Hatch graduated from Bangor Theological Seminary in 2005 and was ordained in 2006. Rather than seeking to become the permanent minister of a church, she has chosen to move from church to church as needed.
“I’m an intentional interim minister,” she said. “I feel called to go into churches in their in-between times, in their difficult times, often, and work with them through the process of becoming whole from whatever they have lost or been hurt by.”
Rev. Hatch said she tries to help members of church congregations “see each other better, hear each other better and learn from each other.”
A primary goal is to help the church understand its history and unique characteristics, to come together around its mission and to figure out what it should be looking for in a permanent minister.
“I enjoy being with them as they walk through that process and watching them come out at a different place,” she said. “I think we get stronger when we walk though difficult times, when we’re challenged and have to dig a little deeper.”
Steve Richards, chairman of the trustees of the local UCC – which includes the Union Church in Northeast Harbor and the Abby Chapel in Seal Harbor – said the church is fortunate that Rev. Hatch was available.
“She has the particular skill set and training to be an interim pastor, and she came highly recommended,” he said.
“It can be a challenging job because you’re usually coming into a church that is in some kind of distress and needs support, as ours does now. This has obviously been an emotionally difficult time for our small church.”
Rev. Hatch has a one-year contract with the church, which can be extended if needed.
Rev. Hatch and her husband, a retired teacher, raised their family in Corinth. Their home church was the UCC in Dover-Foxcroft.
She said the church has always been an important part of her life, but she never expected to be a minister. She decided to enter the seminary after discussions with her minister and helping to care for her husband’s parents before they died.
“I think I am a healing person by nature,” she said.
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