In his role as pastoral minister aboard the Sea Coast Missionary Society’s SUNBEAM, Ted Hoskins has visited Maine’s down east islands and came to know each community, each resident. Through his years of travel among them, Hoskins has connected communities together in an embrace of spiritual and civic vitality. Last month, when Hoskins retired as SUNBEAM’s missionary pastor, community members on Maine’s far-flung islands spoke of him in a singular voice of praise as one who uplifted their spirits and communities.
Island residents encounter few mainlanders who truly appreciate the intricacies and hardships they abide, so the thought of losing such a connection is akin to losing a friend. Matinicus resident Betsy Burr met Hoskins on one of SUNBEAM’s monthly stops at Matinicus. “He’d always call on me, and I live about as far from the dock as you can on Matinicus. He was friends with my husband, married my son and daughter-in-law, and baptized my grandkids. When we all were having a fit after he said he was leaving, he said ‘I’ll be there for you. Just call me. I’ll be off the SUNBEAM, but I’ll come out.’ ”
Hoskins says he will still be “on the ‘BEAM” from time to time, but hardly as much as before. “Will I miss it? Of course I do. But I still find myself running into people from islands.”
Though he is retiring as SUNBEAM’s pastoral minister, Hoskins stays in close contact with islanders now that he is dedicating his time to the working aspect of coastal fishing communities. As his new title, “Minister to Coastal Communities and Fisheries” implies, islands will remain on his beat. “We have to hang on to what we can of resource-based communities,” says Hoskins. “Everybody can go out and preach, but we need help in coastal communities.”
Talking with Hoskins, one gets a sense of the passion that drives his work, but not the impact of it. His mild demeanor and humility belie a dynamic force that inspires others to action. Hoskins was a founding leader of the Stonington Fisheries Alliance. That momentum has carried him farther afield, working with Robin Alden in Stonington, Will Hopkins in Cobscook Bay, and Arthur Bull in Digby, Nova Scotia, on the Saltwater Network, which Hoskins describes as “an attempt to bolster community-based alliances and area resource centers, which will work closely with local fishermen to interact with scientists, and scientists with fishermen.”
The fate of coastal fisheries and the ability of independent fishermen to access them is the growing concern that prompted Hoskins to leave the SUNBEAM. Dedicating his time to this work is “definitely a ministry,” says Hoskins. It is as much mediation, facilitation, knowledge of fisheries, and social work. “I feel at this end of my life – and I am at the end where I’d better do what I can to be useful – I’m available where there’s a need,” says Hoskins.
“That’s not the end of his life, that’s the story of his life,” answers Isle au Haut resident Jeff Burke, who owns the Keepers Inn on Robinson Point. Burke occasionally has guests from Hoskins’ former hometown of Westport, Connecticut. “The first thing Westport people talk about Ted is how he took on the hard issues,” says Burke. “He gets stronger and stronger.” In his characteristic calm, Hoskins rejoins, “We just work at it, that’s all.”
He puts on a lot of miles doing so. Hoskins is, if nothing else, a consummate networker. He sits on boards of fisheries and community groups up and down the coast – Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Alliance, Maine Lobster Advisory Council, Stonington Fisheries Alliance, the Saltwater Network – “enough to keep me out of mischief,” says Hoskins. He worries that fishermen have grown detached from the fisheries management process. “Amendment 13 [to the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Management Act] is going to effect everyone’s life. There are over 5,000 fishermen, yet only 30 to 40 people go to the meetings.” Hoskins says that community-based alliances and regional resource centers have an opportunity and role representing fishermen in the management process.
Representation is something Hoskins is familiar with. In the midst of conflict and political strife, people say Hoskins has been able to raise the debate above the level of destructive dialogue and that his innate fairness and respect for others’ opinions lets people stand down from their defensive posture. “He’s open to everyone, regardless of who they are,” says Burke. “He has no ulterior motives. He’s acting solely because it’s what he believes in. Any time someone’s having a problem, they ask ‘How would Ted deal with it?’ Because if you look at it through his eyes you’d be doing what’s right, rather than what’s expedient.”
This winter Hoskins will participate in a community-building process on Isle au Haut, where he has been going since 1941 when his father was minister there. The project aims to “ask the right questions and find ways for everyone to participate. How do we enhance and protect the basic values about why are we on Isle au Haut, and what limits affect how we live,” says Hoskins. “In many communities there hasn’t been a real tying-together of what it is and where it would like to go in future.”
Hoskins will continue serving as Isle au Haut’s seasonal minister. When the doors swing open on the church on the hill next summer, step into its handsome interior and sit. Ted Hoskins will be there greeting people he’s known all his life and newcomers, residents who are year-round or summer, long or short term, male or female, active or retired – with equal welcome.