Fairfield United Methodist Church welcomes Brenda E. Haskell as its pastor.
Though she has always felt a calling for the ministry, she was told at an early age that women are not ministers. After graduating from Winthrop High School, she attended the University of Southern Maine for arts education. Several years later attended the University of the State of New York as an undergrad of liberal arts, according to a news release from the church.
Haskell, who graduated in 2003 from Bangor Theological Seminary, first pastored in Hartland at Grace Linn UMC from 1999 to 2004 as a licensed local pastor, and then at Vassalboro UMC from 2006 to 2008.
In addition to attending seminary, and serving as licensed local pastor, she also worked as an investigator for the Maine Human Rights Commission. In 2007, she changed jobs and went to work for the University of Maine System as an investigator and then as director of Equal Opportunity, retiring in 2017.
Though she left the ministry to work full time for the University of Maine, her call to ministry never faded. She continued to serve at Vassalboro UMC and filled in for other pastors for vacation or health reasons.
Services are held at 10:30 a.m. Sundays at 37 Skowhegan Road.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less