At a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi, Vice President JD Vance spoke candidly about his conversion to Catholicism, his interfaith marriage, and the challenge of raising a family united in faith. Speaking before roughly 10,000 students, Vance reflected on what he called “the most important conversations” in his home—those about faith, family, and God.
“We talk to each other about this stuff,” Vance said, according to LifeSiteNews. “So we’ve decided to raise our kids Christian. Our two oldest kids go to a Christian school. Our eight-year-old did his First Communion about a year ago.”
Faith and Family
Vance, who entered the Catholic Church several years after his marriage, described how his wife Usha, who was raised in a Hindu household, supported his decision to become Catholic even while choosing not to convert herself. “Most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church,” Vance explained. “Do I hope eventually she is moved by the same thing I was moved in by Church? Yes. I honestly do wish that. Because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way.”
Yet the vice president emphasized that faith must be freely chosen. “If she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, so that doesn’t cause a problem for me,” he said, adding that he trusts God’s timing: “You figure this stuff out as a family, and you trust in God to have a plan and you try to follow it as best as you can” (LifeSiteNews).
“Proper Leadership and Love”
Vance’s remarks prompted both praise and criticism online. Responding to those who accused him of “throwing his wife’s religion under the bus,” he clarified on X (formerly Twitter): “My wife … encouraged me to reengage with my faith many years ago. She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but … I hope she may one day see things as I do. Regardless, I’ll continue to love and support her … because she’s my wife.”
Christian commentator Kangmin Lee defended Vance’s sentiments, writing that if a Christian husband “did not desire for his wife to believe in Christ, he would be a liar. It is because he cares about his wife [that] he wants eternity with Christ for her. … It is not betrayal. It is proper leadership and love” (LifeSiteNews).
Usha Vance’s Perspective
The second lady shared her own reflections in an interview with Meghan McCain’s Citizen McCain podcast earlier this year. “When [JD] converted, we had a lot of conversations about that,” she said. “When you convert to Catholicism it comes with several important obligations, like to raise your child in the faith … So what we’ve ended up doing is we send our kids to Catholic school, and we have given them each the choice … whether they want to be baptized Catholic.”
Her comments reveal a marriage rooted in dialogue and respect—a living example of what the Church calls “mixed” marriages, where spouses of different faiths must navigate both love and conviction.
The Church’s Teaching on Mixed Marriages
The Catholic Church has long acknowledged the unique challenges such couples face. In 1966, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (now the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) taught that “the sacrament of marriage requires … the full and perfect harmony of the spouses … especially in regards to religion,” noting that “the union of spirits may fail or at least be weakened when there are differences of belief … concerning religious truths and sentiments that make up the highest values that are the subject of human veneration.”
For this reason, the Church continues to advise great discernment before entering an interfaith union, stressing her “most solemn duty to protect and safeguard the gift of the faith both for the spouses as well as their children.”
Trusting in God’s Plan
JD Vance’s story offers a modern reflection of that teaching—a Catholic convert striving to live out his vocation with integrity while trusting in God’s providence. “You figure this stuff out as a family,” he said, “and you trust in God to have a plan.”
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