US Navy Gets First Female Chief of Chaplains

With the retirement of Rear Adm Mark Tidd, Rear Adm Margaret Kibben, formerly the US Navy’s Deputy Chief of Chaplains and Chief of Chaplains for the Marine Corps, was promoted to Rear Admiral (Upper Half) and assumed the position of Chief of Chaplains for the US Navy.

Both her promotion and assumption of duties marked a historic event for the Navy and its Chaplain Corps as Kibben became the first female chief of Navy chaplains and the first female Navy chaplain to hold the rank of rear admiral upper half.

As the new Chief Chaplain, RAdm Kibben, who is endorsed by the PC(USA), “pledged” to have her chaplains support service members and their families

so that they “grow spiritually, are certain of their moral and ethical foundations, and are free and able to exercise and enjoy a community of faith.”

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