Sue Bernard, news director at WAGM-TV 8 in Presque Isle for nearly 21 years, is leaving Aroostook County to become director of communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which comprises all of Maine’s Catholic parishes.

Bernard will be diocesan spokeswoman and oversee operations of the weekly diocesan newspaper Church World. The diocese’s longtime public affairs director, Marc R. Mutty, will devote his time to public policy, including lobbying the Legislature in Augusta. Mutty’s position was divided into separate areas: public policy and communications.

Bernard, who was also co-anchor of the station’s 6 p.m. news broadcast, will start her job in Portland on Jan. 28. She said Tuesday that one of her major duties will be to increase readership of the 6,400-circulation Church World. There are about 300,000 Catholics in Maine.

On Jan. 20, First Baptist Church of Belfast will install a picture of the Rev. Walter B. Wakeman on the church’s Wall of Recognition for its previous pastors. He was the congregation’s 43rd pastor, from 1969 to 1973. A service marking the installation will be about 10:45 a.m. Jan. 20. The church says it is looking for images of five pastors before 1963: The Revs. Clifford L. Peaslee (1927-38), Willard Griffin Foote (1938-42), William Sterling Stackhouse (1945-48), Z. Richard Henley (1949-54) and Vernelle Wallace Dyer (1956-63). Contact the Rev. Dr. Charles L. Tyer, 338-5905.

Second Congregational Church of Brewer voted recently to leave the United Church of Christ and join the much smaller evangelical denomination Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. The split was over scriptural authority, according to the church’s pastor, the Rev. Scott Cleveland. The pastor, whose credentials are recognized in both organizations, said the congregation concluded it was at “great variance from the UCC in what we call the essentials of faith. The high-profile issues of abortion and homosexuality were ancillary issues,” he said. “The single most important issue centered on the authority of scripture.” The Rev. David Gaewski, minister for the Maine Conference of the UCC, said that when he met with the congregation a year ago, most questions centered on the church’s stand on social issues. “We are a big tent and welcome all,” Gaewski said. “We don’t have a hierarchical system like some denominations. I told those folks that the church’s love for them is unconditional and that if we disagreed it was OK. It happens in families.”

The new associate pastor of Messiah Baptist Church on Union Street in Bangor grew up in nearby Hampden. The Rev. Jeff Tenney has worked in broadcasting and for a Florida-based managed care provider. He graduated from Bangor Christian Schools and received a bachelor’s degree in pastoral theology at Hyles-Anderson College, Crown Point, Ind. He has also served as an education, youth and music minister at several churches in Florida’s Tampa Bay region and as a teacher for Moody Extension Studies, an arm of Chicago-based Moody Bible Institute. Tenney may be reached through the church’s Web site, www.messiahbangor.org. Call 947-7950.