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 campaign. “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” comes out Tuesday from Harper, and The Associated Press obtained a copy ahead of its release. The HarperCollins imprint also put out “Hillbilly Elegy,” the best-selling memoir from 2016 that helped make Vance a national figure.Vance 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 U.S. senator from Ohio and now vice president to Donald Trump. There’s not a lot about Trump or other insider stories from Vance’s political years, although he does express regret for criticizing the Democratic Party’s “childless cat ladies,” a comment that came back to haunt him while Trump’s running mate.
Instead, “Communion” 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 didn’t get through his education at Yale University or working in the financial industry.The book hits shelves less than five months before the midterm elections that will shape the final two years of Trump’s second presidency. The midterms will also mark the unofficial start of the next presidential campaign, in which Vance is expected to be a contender.
