Minister who conducted Madonna’s wedding to be Kirk’s next Moderator
SHE was thrust into the limelight 17 years ago when officiating at Madonna’s wedding to Guy Ritchie and the baptism of the couple’s son Rocco.
Now the Highland minister who presided over the A-list ceremony at Skibo Castle, in Sutherland, is making a name for herself again – as the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
The Rev Susan Brown will take on the ambassadorial role for the Kirk for a year commencing next May.
The position will see her representing the church to faith leaders at home and abroad, preaching at special events and presiding over centenary commemorations to mark the end of the First World War.
At the announcement of her nomination, the 58-year-old minister of Dornoch Cathedral was quick to steer the conversation
‘Speaking virtually and meeting physically’
away from the showbusiness wedding she led over the festive period back in 2000.
Celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Sting and Stella McCartney jetted in for the glitzy ceremony at the 7,000-acre estate on the day after Mrs Brown had baptised infant Rocco.
Madonna and Ritchie divorced in 2008, prompting a bitter custody battle over the eight-year-old and their adopted son David, then three. The case was settled last year.
Instead of recalling the event, when speaking at the announcement of her nomination in Edinburgh yesterday, Mrs Brown said she wanted to address the issues facing the church.
She said her priority would be to halt dwindling membership levels and to get people to log off their computers and turn up on Sunday mornings instead. With an ageing population of churchgoers, the Kirk has recently experimented with online tools – including phone apps – to attract a younger crowd.
Mrs Brown said she was heartened by such online engagement but wished to use it as a ‘bridge’ to encourage people into churches.
She said: ‘I think there is something about face-to-face stuff that is incredibly important, but we’ve got to start somewhere. It’s not just young people. I’m not that young and yet people will private message me through social media asking questions, looking for answers, asking for prayer a lot. And it’s how I then manage to bridge the gap between speaking to them virtually and meeting them physically.’
Mrs Brown – a former RNLI volunteer and taekwondo enthusiast – says her prize possession was given to her by an actress known for playing a vicar.
She explained: ‘It’s a dog collar I got after I met Dawn French and it says, “To the vicar of Dornoch from the Vicar of Dibley, big love”.’
The Kirk’s principal clerk, the Rev George Whyte, said: ‘Susan brings great personal qualities and a wide range of ministerial, community and family experience to the post.’