Kirk to honour female ministers

A public procession will take place during this year’s General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to mark 50 years of the ordination of women in the Kirk.

More than 200 people are signed up to take part in the event in Edinburgh on Tuesday May 22, exactly half a century on from the assembly’s decision in 1968 to permit women to become ministers.

The procession will see female ministers, their families, friends, colleagues and other supporters parade up The Mound to the Kirk’s General Assembly Hall.

A special event is then taking place inside the hall from 2pm to mark the anniversary, with short contributions expected from some of the pioneering women ministers within the Church. Event organiser Dr Lesley Orr said: “This will be a simple, public and dignified procession to honour the pioneer women (and men who supported their call) who first walked this way – remembering also those who knocked but were not allowed to enter – and to celebrate the manifold gifts and service of women in ordained ministry over 50 years.”

More than a quarter of ordained ministers within the Kirk are now women, while around half of those in training for the post are female.

The procession will come three days after the Rev Susan Brown becomes the fourth woman to take on the title of Moderator of the General Assembly.