JD Vance: 5 things to know about Trump's VP pick
1. Vance is a Catholic convert
In 2019, Vance converted to Roman Catholicism. He discussed what attracted him to the faith in an interview with The American Conservative.
“I became persuaded over time that Catholicism was true. I was raised Christian, but never had a super-strong attachment to any denomination, and was never baptized,” he recalled. “When I became more interested in faith, I started out with a clean slate, and looked at the church that appealed most to me intellectually.”
“One of the things I love about Catholicism is that it’s very old,” Vance asserted. “I take a longer view. Are things more daunting than they were in the mid-19th century? In the Dark Ages? Is it as daunting as having a second pope at Avignon? I don’t think so. The hope of the Christian faith is not rooted in any short-term conquest of the material world, but in the fact that it is true, and over the long term, with various fits and starts, things will work out.”
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As he flirted with converting to Catholicism, Vance discovered that his “views on public policy and what the optimal state should look like are pretty aligned with Catholic social teaching.”
Describing a “real overlap between what I would like to see and what the Catholic Church would like to see,” Vance expressed hope that his faith would make him “more compassionate and to identify with people who are struggling,” while lamenting that “the Republican Party has been too long a partnership between social conservatives and market libertarians.”
“I don’t think social conservatives have benefitted too much from that partnership. Part of social conservatism’s challenge for viability in the 21st century is that it can’t just be about issues like abortion, but it has to have a broader vision of political economy, and the common good.”
Vance also praised the idea that “the concept of grace is not couched in terms of epiphany” as “one of the most attractive things about Catholicism.”
He added, “It’s not like you receive grace and suddenly you go from being a bad person to being a good person. You’re constantly being worked on. I like that.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
