US Vice President J.D. Vance has published a new memoir focusing on his faith. Published on June 18, 2026, “Holy Communion: Finding the Way Back to Faith” traces his spiritual journey, how he grew up as an atheist, and how he found his way back to Roman Catholicism. This is Vance’s second book, following “Hillibilly Elegy,” his best-selling 2016 memoir about his Ohio roots. However, he co-authored other books during this period.In his Eucharist he wrote: If the Titanic was about to sink, I would rather be on the ship than jump in a lifeboat.
What does this sentence mean?
At first glance, this statement may seem surprising. Why would one want to go down with the Titanic? But Vance explained that he was prepared to join the Catholic Church even as it was going through hard times. J.D. Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, at a time when the Catholic Church was mired in scandal and losing members. But Vance said that was the kind of person he was, and he wouldn’t leave the Titanic when it was about to sink. He would be on the boat instead of jumping into a lifeboat. Here he compares Titanic to Catholicism. He chose to embrace it during difficult times because he believed in it. Vance also expresses his sense of loyalty, duty, and belonging through this much-discussed quote from the book.Vance grew up in a turbulent working-class family in Ohio with roots in Appalachia. He described his childhood in “Hillbilly Elegy” as being characterized by family instability, drug addiction, poverty and frequent turmoil. He was raised primarily by his grandmother, known as “Grandma,” who played an important role in shaping his values and early religious beliefs. In another section, he wrote that he was never afraid of “hell.” “I’m not worried about what I’ll find on the other side of eternal sleep. Even when I was a child, I was never afraid of hell,” Vance wrote.
J.D. Vance converted to Catholicism
One of the central themes of “Communion” is Vance’s eventual return to Christianity, not just emotionally but also intellectually and philosophically. The book describes his journey from evangelical Christianity as a child to skepticism and atheism as a young man, culminating in his conversion to Catholicism in 2019. His grandma had strong evangelical Protestant beliefs. Vance identified as a Christian as a teenager, but while in college and law school he grew suspicious of religion.Earlier, Vance recounted the most important influence on his rediscovery of faith, the French Catholic thinker René Girard, known for his theory of “mimetic desire,” the idea that people often desire things because others desire them. As he read Girard’s work, Vance became increasingly interested in Christian explanations of human behavior, morality, and social order.After years of study and reflection, Vance entered the Catholic Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), the standard process for adults to become Catholic. In August 2019, he was baptized and confirmed at St. Gertrude’s Monastery in Cincinnati, Ohio. His choice of St. Augustine as his confirmation saint reflected Augustine’s influence on his thinking.In Communion, Vance talks about his Hindu wife Usha Vance pointing out that therapy didn’t help Vance, but going to church did.
