Minister says troubles led to new post in Bangor

BANGOR – The new pastor at Hammond Street Congregational Church, the Rev. Dr. Mark Allen Doty is a fifth-generation minister who traces his family back to the Mayflower and who is openly gay.

Doty spoke about himself in his first sermon. He said that the congregation at Hammond Street, like the Samaritan in the Book of Luke, had found him bruised and bloodied on the Jericho Road and reached out to him.

He had applied to hundreds of churches after an absence of five years, but only Hammond Street accepted. “There’s no question that he was the best person for the job,” Hugh Morrison of the search committee said. “He has outstanding credentials, he’s very people-oriented and this congregation needs his skills. He brings compassion, understanding, healing and humor to us.”

Doty, 53, was born in Salem, Mass., where his father was pastor at a Congregational Church. His family moved to Indianapolis when Doty was 6, and his father became a pastoral counselor. When his father was named president of Baker University, a small United Methodist college in Baldwin, Kan., Doty enrolled.

Doty met his wife there and, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, graduated from the Boston University School of Theology. He married in 1972 and spent six years earning master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University.

Doty was assistant pastor at the 3,300-member First United Methodist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, where his parents had moved.

“I spent seven wonderful years there,” he said during an interview in his Hammond Street office.

He had been a nonpracticing homosexual throughout his married life, but when his ex-wife confided to friends who were church members, his world came crashing down.

“I was told that if I preached the following Sunday, a group would start jeering and that there was another group who would refuse to take communion from my hand. So, I resigned, and suddenly, everything was just gone.”

He surrendered his credentials in the denomination because the United Methodist Church refuses to ordain homosexuals, but later transferred them to the United Church of Christ, with which Hammond Street is associated. Doty took a job in the oil business, researching mineral and surface rights issues, but a year after leaving the ministry, had a major heart attack.

After surgery, a recession in the oil industry forced him to look for another job. In five years, Doty has been a teacher, legal assistant and a fragrance model for Ralph Lauren products at a Texas department store.

Although the UCCs allow congregations to decide if same-sex unions will be blessed in their churches or if lesbians and gays will be ordained, Doty said it was tough finding a job.

Ted Taylor said that for the nine-member search committee, Doty’s sexuality was not an issue. Taylor and his young family have been attending Hammond Street about three years, but Taylor grew up in the congregation.

“He’s been open about it. Everybody knew up front. Maybe we’re a little more open-minded than some people give us credit for,” he said at the reception following Doty’s first sermon as pastor. “He’s so open about it, it makes others more open,” Taylor said.

“The people at Hammond Street are really searching for God,” Doty said. “They are hungry spiritually and that has always been a part of who I am. … Through my journey over the past five years, I’ve felt the hand of God holding me. … I am by nature an optimist and feel so blessed to be here. I am grateful to these folks for giving me this chance.

Sunday services are at 10 a.m. at Hammond Street Congregational Church. For more information, call 942-4381.