Margaret Kibben to become first woman to serve as House chaplain gazettextra.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettextra.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By CNSNews.com Staff | December 31, 2020 | 4:16pm EST
(Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais-Pool/Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) announced today that she was naming Rear Admiral Margaret Grun Kibben to replace Father Pat Conroy, who is retiring, as the chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Kibben, who is a Presbyterian minister, will be the first woman to serve as the chaplain of the House.
“It is my honor to announce the appointment of Rear Admiral Margaret Grun Kibben to serve as Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives: the first woman to serve in this historic position, which has been enshrined in our Democracy since the First Congress in 1789,” Pelosi said in a statement.
By NIELS LESNIEWSKI | CQ-Roll Call | Published: December 31, 2020 WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) For the first time in American history, a woman will serve as House chaplain. Retired Rear Adm. Margaret G. Kibben was announced Thursday as Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s choice to be the next House chaplain, replacing the retiring Rev. Patrick J. Conroy. Kibben will be the first female chaplain for either chamber. Kibben was the first woman to serve as chief of Navy chaplains, serving from 2014-2018 in that role, and was previously chaplain of the Marine Corps. Her arrival on Capitol Hill will mean that both the House and Senate chaplains will be retired chief chaplains of the Navy, with longtime Senate Chaplain Barry Black having led the Navy’s chaplains from 2000 through 2003. Earlier in her military career, Kibben was the senior chaplain serving in Afghanistan, according to the announcement from Pelosi’s office.