Community is at the heart of Susan’s service

When Very Rev Dr Susan Brown was the minister of Dornoch Cathedral – the first woman in Britain to have the charge of a cathedral – the church's mission statement was: "In the heart of the community with the community at its heart".

It is a statement that sums up Dr Brown's own attitude towards ministry, which officially concluded when she retired from her final rural charge at Greenlaw in the Borders.

Interviewed for our regular Talking Ministry feature, Dr Brown said: "That is really what the church is about. There is a strength in rural communities that does not exist to the same extent in more urban areas."

Dr Brown felt the call to ministry as a teenager in the Lothian town of Penicuik, before she had even met a female minister, feeling that a career as a minister was "right and good and what God was asking" allowing her to work and talk with people and share her faith.

Studying theology straight from school was so unusual that the Church of Scotland and New College in Edinburgh had to create a new course for the young Dr Brown and fellow student Jim Cowan, just a couple of weeks apart in age, to ensure they had completed the mandatory six years of study required by ministry candidates at that time.

Following an extended probationary period at St Giles', the High Kirk of Edinburgh in the heart of the city, in 1985 she moved to her first charge, Killearnan, a rural church with a history dating back to the Middle Ages on the edge of the Black Isle peninsula just north of Inverness.

A pioneering ministry

It was a time when female ministers were still a relative novelty, especially in the Highlands.

"I suppose I did feel a bit of a pioneer," Dr Brown acknowledged.

"The Highlands had never had a female minister and there were some who didn't approve, but people came around. Once you are part of a community, people don't care if you are male or female. They just want to know you can be there to help and befriend them. They were fantastic congregation."

However, aware of the danger of feeling isolated in a rural parish, Dr Brown also began to be involved in the wider work of the Church, beginning with ecumenical relations, which allowed her to meet and learn from Christians in other denominations, before becoming involved with the ground-breaking Church Without Walls project, and then broadening her connections out internationally as part of the World Mission team.

"You have to make the effort to do things, but for me the benefits far outweighed the 5am starts and getting home at 9.30pm," Dr Brown explained.

"I would say to any new minister to consider widening your horizons or have them widened for you and engage with people from other parts of the country, from other churches or other nationalities, because it is so enriching."

After 13 years in Killearnan, Dr Brown, husband Derek and their two children moved north to Dornoch.

Although classed as a cathedral, the focus in Dornoch is not on pomp or pageantry, but community.

"Like Killearnan, it goes back a long way, but it's about the present as well as the past and how you become a force to be reckoned with in today's society in a positive way. When people feel isolated and worried about international events, the Church is perfectly placed to talk about hope and peace and justice and love above all else," she said.

However, as an international tourist destination, Dornoch Cathedral welcomes visitors from around the world, most famously pop star Madonna and film director Guy Ritchie, who chose it as the venue for their wedding in 2000. As the minister who conducted the ceremony, that brought some unwelcome media attention on Dr Brown.

A royal appointment

But as well as overseeing the marriage of "the Queen of Pop", Dr Brown also has a connection to legitimate royalty. In 2010 she was appointed Chaplain-in-Ordinary to Queen Elizabeth and is now a Royal Chaplain to King Charles.

Following Her Majesty's death at Balmoral in 2022, she was among the members of the Chapel Royal who remained with the late Queen at Holyrood Palace and then stood vigil as she lay in state at St Giles'.

"It was incredibly moving," Dr Brown said.

"It was a historic moment and to be a part of it was just amazing."

In 2018, Dr Brown took on the most high-profile role in the Church of Scotland as Moderator.

She said: "I felt very blessed to have had the privilege of representing the Church and going out to meet people and talk about what matters and what the Church is doing.

"The presbyteries I visited are working with the most marginalised folk in their midst and saying without words what the love of God is all about."

Read the full interview on our Talking Ministry page.