Jane Tyler talks to the new Dean of Birmingham Cathedral, the Very Reverend Catherine Ogle, about family, faith schools, gay marriage and women in the church.

The only clue that Catherine Ogle is a member of the clergy is the dog collar peeking out from her elegant black skirt suit.

If that wasn’t there, you could be forgiven for thinking she was the headmistress of a girls’ boarding school or the chairman of an NHS trust.

But to give her her proper title, Ms Ogle is the Very Reverend Catherine Ogle, Dean of Birmingham Cathedral and one of the most senior women in the Church of England. However, she is as far removed from the traditional image of a priest as you can get.

She wears a full face of subtle and discreetly-applied make-up, her black skirt and jacket are elegant but feminine and her hair looks as though it benefits from regular cuts and styling.

And at the relatively young age of 49, Ms Ogle has combined her rise to the upper echelons of the Church with marriage and raising a family.

Ms Ogle has been in her post six months now and is, by her own admission, “loving it”.

Birmingham Cathedral is also the parish church of St Philips, so as well as running the cathedral’s day-to-day business, she is also its parish priest, conducting services and meeting parishioners.

The role brings seniority and responsibility. As Dean, the Very Rev Ogle is fourth in the pecking order of the Diocese of Birmingham, after the Bishop and two Archdeacons.

She is also one of just four female deans in the Church of England.

Before she came to Birmingham, Cambridge-born Ms Ogle was the Vicar of Huddersfield. She was ordained when she was 27 after entering the Church following a degree in textile and design at the University of Leeds.

She went on to take a sabbatical, during which she worked as a journalist with BBC Radio Leeds and was its religious affairs editor.

When the Church of England allowed women to become priests in 1994, she was among the first group to be ordained.

The Dean of Birmingham Cathedral job was advertised and Ms Ogle was encouraged to apply.

“In the church it’s difficult to have a career plan, we take on the work we are called to do,” she said. “I worked as a parish priest for 17 years in Wakefield and Huddersfield and then someone high up in the Church suggested I went for this job.

“I felt a bit intimidated by the advert, but I set aside a day to fill out the application and by the end, had convinced myself it was the job for me and I should get it.”

The Very Rev Ogle does not feel her gender has hindered her career.

“I’ve been very fortunate during my time in the Church. I was in the vanguard of women being ordained and have not met a great deal of opposition, although I know some women have,” she said.

“For a woman it’s ‘how do I make my work fit in with my family?’ which is not a question men have to ask themselves.”

Six months in, and her enthusiasm is infectious. “I love it – it’s a huge job with no limits, it really is my dream job,” she said.

A typical day will see her conduct the 7.30am service, a duty she takes in turns with her other clergy. Then at 8am it’s back to her offices just across the road in Colmore Row to do administration and liaise with her 20 or so staff. She might conduct more services during the day, including the popular 5.45pm evening prayer.

An important part of the job is to reach out and be part of the community and she has made it a rule to meet someone not connected with the church every day.

Ms Ogle shares her parish with St Martin’s in the Bullring and the majority of its congregation travels in from the suburbs.

Despite reports that Church of England congregations are dwindling, she reports her congregation numbers are “healthy”. The busiest service, at 11am on Sundays, regularly has attendances of about 150.

The cathedral still holds weddings, christenings and funerals, but there are unlikely to be any gay “weddings” in the near future.

Last month, the Government announced it wanted churches to open its doors to lesbians and gays tying the knot, but Ms Ogle said that suggestion would be given short shrift by the General Synod hierarchy.

“It’s not something the Church has any provision for and I can’t see that changing, although we are fully supportive of couples in loving, stable relationships. . . but marriage? No, we couldn’t entertain that,” she said.

Since taking up her role she has been working hard to reach out to other faiths.

She has struck up a good relationship with the Catholic Church, but is sanguine about it ever having women priests.

“If the Pope decided that’s what he wanted, then it would happen very quickly,” she said.

She has already made contact with the Jewish community and next plans to go to a service at a mosque.

On the subject of more faith schools, she is more equivocal, saying that whilst they are good community schools, she is less happy about the segregation side.

As befitting a thoroughly modern woman, she has also shaken up the cathedral since her arrival and dragged it into the 21st Century.

She gave the cathedral its own smart phone ‘app’ which, for some unfathomable reason, is hugely popular in South Korea.

And together with the rest of the clergy, she has been learning how to use social networking site Twitter so she can share what the church is doing during Easter.

Her 55-year-old husband, Robin Goater, is an accountant who until this month had kept his job in Huddersfield and was commuting.

He has now given that up and moved down to be with his wife at the vicarage in Moseley where they live courtesy of the Church.

When asked how much she earns, she was nonplussed.

“No-one’s ever asked me that before, I really don’t know,” she said. “I’m sure it’s on a website somewhere, but it’s not something I’ve ever thought about because this is a calling rather than a career.”

But after a bit of investigation on the computer, she concluded it was “around £40,000” with free housing.

Their son Thomas is 18 and at university studying philosophy and theology, but has no plans to follow in his mother’s footsteps.

Ironically, she says, being a priest made being a working mother surprisingly easy.

“When Thomas was little I was a vicar and it was easy to fit things in because the school was in the parish, I was not working nine to five and could pick him up most days,” she said.

All the other women deans, apart from one, are married with families.

“I’m sure over my career there have been some professional opportunities I didn’t take because of Thomas, but I guess that’s the same for any working mother,” she admits.