JD Vance writes about journey to Catholicism in ‘Communion,’ his first book since ‘Hillbilly Elegy'

Vice President JD Vance a convert to Catholicism whose faith has been central to his adult life writes about his religious journey in a new book that could ultimately serve as a sort of origin story for a future presidential campaignldquoCommunion Finding My Way Back to Faithrdquo comes out Tuesday from Harper and The Associated Press obtained a copy ahead of its release The HarperCollins imprint also put out ldquoHillbilly Elegyrdquo the bestselling memoir from 2016 that helped make Vance a national figureVance has been working on and off on his new book since then a tumultuous decade that included a Hollywood movie about his youth a short stint as a US senator from Ohio and now vice president to Donald TrumpTherersquos not a lot about Trump or other insider stories from Vancersquos political years although he does express regret for criticizing the Democratic Partyrsquos ldquochildless cat ladiesrdquo a comment that came back to haunt him while Trumprsquos running mateInstead ldquoCommunionrdquo serves as a sort of manifesto for the role of religion in public life Vance writes about transitioning from Protestant Christianity to atheism to Catholicism and he credits his faith with giving him a sense of purpose he didnrsquot get through his education at Yale University or working in the financial industryThe book hits shelves less than five months before the midterm elections that will shape the final two years of Trumprsquos second presidency The midterms will also mark the unofficial start of the next presidential campaign in which Vance is expected to be a contenderVance recalled lsquofusionrsquo between religion and politicsVance wrote how he witnessed ldquothe fusion between Republican politics and the Christianity of my youthrdquo At that time Vance wrote ldquoI heard a fair amount about the evils of abortion and homosexualityrdquo as well as thenPresident Bill Clintonrsquos ldquorumored moral failingsrdquoAlongside these religious observations Vance said he felt he was ldquostarting to witness the beginning of a fissure in the Republican Party between its business elites and its religious rank and filerdquo Thatrsquos something Vance went on that would ldquoeventually lead to my election as vice presidentrdquoVancersquos grandmother mdash his mamaw as he calls her mdash was a central figure in his life and her death led to an atrophying of his ChristianityldquoWith her gone no one really cared about my faith and soon I stopped caring toordquo he wrote Christianity became ldquocompletely irrelevantrdquo to him including when he served in Iraq in the Marine CorpsAt the end of his service in 2006 Vance wrote that he ldquowas no longer in any real sense a ChristianrdquoA neardeath experience helped shape Vancersquos faithReturning to his military base after his grandmotherrsquos funeral Vance wrote that he lost control of his car on a rainslicked road but inexplicably stopped before hurtling into a guardrail and potentially over the side of a mountainHe said it was ldquothe closest Irsquove ever come to a supernatural experiencerdquo and the feeling remained ldquoeven during my later years as a strident atheistrdquoAs his military service wrapped up a colleague introduced Vance to the work of author Ayn Rand whose notion of the virtuousness of selfishness stood ldquoin as stark opposition to Christian morality as anything Irsquod ever readrdquo This notion appealed to Vance he wrote noting that Randrsquos philosophy ldquofilled a void left by the faith Irsquod discardedrdquo and that he became a ldquoselfprofessed atheist and meritocratrdquoldquoI didnrsquot care about Godrsquos willrdquo he wrote ldquoI cared about my ownrdquolsquoI will marry this girlrsquoImmediately struck by his nowwife Usha Vance the vice president wrote that he told a friend he thought he was ldquoobsessedrdquo with her while they were in law school together He praised her intensity intelligence and curiosityldquoI will marry this girlrdquo he wrote ldquoOr I will be a lifelong bachelorrdquoHe also wrote how their discussion about death sparked by Joan Didionrsquos ldquoThe Year of Magical Thinkingrdquo highlighted their different views on the afterlife mdash she was worried by it and he wasnrsquot even in his atheist yearsldquoUsha like Didion dreaded neither the lsquoloss of heavenrsquo nor lsquothe pains of hellrsquo for the most logical of reasons She simply didnrsquot think they exist I came to believe in both but I still didnrsquot find either particularly motivatingrdquo he wrotePeter Thiel was a turning pointIn the midst of this Vance wrote that he attended a talk by Peter Thiel a Silicon Valley investor who would become one of Vancersquos early political backers He was impressed by Thielrsquos discussion of hypercompetition among professionals accompanied by ldquotechnological stagnationrdquoldquoPossibly the smartest person Irsquod ever met he identified very openly as a Christianrdquo Vance wrote adding that Thiel ldquodefied the simple social template I had constructed mdash that dumb people were religious and smart people were atheistsrdquoHillbilly Elegy Trump and fameInitially skeptical his first book would be successful Vance described how an interview he gave in the summer of 2016 about ldquothe sense that the hillbillies had been left behind by the leaders of a countryrdquo caught fire dovetailing with Trumprsquos campaign that yearldquoI became a controversial figure in my own right and I tasted my first bit of heated public criticismrdquo he wroteVance said he was ldquotempted by the flexibilityrdquo of ldquobeing a public intellectualrdquo although he would choose a different pathVance converted to CatholicismThe future vice president recalled visiting a French cathedral in 2018 with his wife Usha and young son EwanReflecting on how the Catholic Church had endured over the years his ambivalence about religion began to fade He writes that he felt ldquoa distinct sense of belonging and presencerdquoHe was baptised a year later writing that he enjoyed the ldquoworkrdquo required to become Catholic mdash readings and discussionThe vetting process for vice president was intenseVance wrote that he figured it was a ldquolong shotrdquo for Trump to choose him as vice presidentldquoWhen his staff told me I was on the short list I almost thought it was a prank callrdquo Vance wroteHe recalled the inperson interview the most fascinating part of the vetting process which included being asked if he had ever cheated on his wifeldquoI havenrsquot but I assume people who have donrsquot just admit it to a strangerrdquo he respondedThe transition to the ticket was difficult for his family he wrote particularly his eldest childHe told Charlie Kirk the young conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA and was assassinated last year about the struggleldquoDonrsquot try to convince your son itrsquos not a sacrificerdquo Kirk saidRegretting the lsquocat ladiesrsquo commentVancersquos penchant for stirring controversy came up again during the campaignCritics resurfaced his 2021 remarks that the Democratic Party was run by ldquochildless cat ladiesrdquoVance now concedes that his comment was ldquoboneheadedrdquo and ldquoone of the dumbest things I ever saidrdquoldquoAside from enraging a great number of peoplerdquo Vance added ldquoit had the added benefit of distracting from the actual point I wanted to make which was that our society is becoming pathologically hostile to having kidsrdquoIs this Vancersquos pre2028 presidential campaign memoirThe bookrsquos release likely serves to ramp up speculation that Vance will seek the presidency in 2028 Thatrsquos a possibility the Republican vice president has said hersquos not focused on right now indicating hersquod wait until after the 2026 midterm elections to decide on a campaignPresidential hopefuls often release books before launching a campaign giving them a moment in the spotlight before new audiences and a chance to crystallise their message before embarking on a campaignAlready potential 2028 candidates on the Democratic side have recently published books or will do so soon including Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro California Gov Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris