On Monday, as the Republican National Convention (RNC) kicked off in Milwaukee, Donald Trump announced that his running mate for the 2024 election will be Ohio Sen. James David “J.D.” Vance. At 39 years old, Vance is the second-youngest member of the Senate, and he will now have a chance to become the United States’ second Catholic vice president; the first one was Joe Biden in 2008.
After growing up as a Pentecostal and then going through an “angry atheist” phase, Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019. He was baptized and confirmed at St. Gertrude Priory, which is attached to a Dominican parish in Cincinnati. Vance has written extensively about his life in faith, both in his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy”, and in a 2020 article in The Lamp titled “How I Joined the Resistance. On Mamaw and Becoming Catholic”, where he reflects on his conversion to the faith.
To read the National Catholic Register story on Vance’s Catholic journey, click here.