Hillbilly Politician: J.D. Vance’s Difficult Childhood and His Conversion to the Catholic Faith

I thought, when I picked up a copy of vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s 2016 autobiographical book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, that I would find (a) well-reasoned arguments for his political positions, and (b) inspiring reflections about how he was challenged and changed by his Catholic faith.

What I discovered was something quite different. Vance shared anecdotes from his childhood that left me in happy tears: stories about his life with an eccentric and foul-mouthed grandmother whom he affectionately called “Mamaw”; stories about his mother’s serial marriages; stories about his own adventures in the “hillbilly South.” 

In Hillbilly Elegy, I read about dishes that shattered when they were thrown at walls. Guns drawn. Threats made. Poker games won. Four-year-old J.D. wondering about the whiskers on his grandmother’s chin. An adult J.D. reflecting on his difficult relationship with his mother.

Had he planned to take his place in the American political spotlight, with his best-selling book drawing the attention of both supporters and political rivals, he may well have softened his language (and his reports of Mamaw’s R-rated quips). To be sure, the book was written before Vance had even considered a career in politics, and he hadn’t yet converted to the Catholic Faith; so perhaps at the time of his writing, he hadn’t yet organized his thoughts around those seminally important topics. 

Apparent throughout the book was Vance’s deep understanding of and appreciation for those who never rose to fame in business or politics or education but who spent their lives in the American countryside, working manual labor, supporting their families in modest homes. J.D. had been one of them, living in a culture of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma. His rise from poverty—through his enlistment in the Marine Corps, to Yale Law School, and finally, to a successful career in politics—offers hope to others who feel trapped by a crisis of cultural decline. J.D. Vance is living proof to the reader that the American dream is a possibility for everyone and that individual initiative can overcome the disintegration of their family’s culture. Apparent throughout the book was Vance’s deep understanding of and appreciation for those who never rose to fame in business or politics or education but who spent their lives in the American countryside.Tweet This

As for his faith walk, Vance’s journey led him through atheism while under the influence of non-believing professors in college, then toward a gradually renewed interest in the Christian faith, which he deemed logical. He speaks little about Christianity (and even less about Catholicism) in Hillbilly Elegy. That book was published in 2016, before his landmark conversion. Four years later, on April 1, 2020, he published a tell-all article in The Lamp magazine titled “How I Joined the Resistance.” In that lengthy article, he speaks candidly about how he had reasoned his way through some classic Protestant misunderstandings of the Catholic Faith: for example, the mistaken assertion that Catholics worship Mary and disagreement with Catholics’ embrace of both scriptural and traditional authority. 

Vance’s commitment to reason led him to read the works of René Girard and St. Augustine, particularly City of God. “The words of St. Augustine,” Vance wrote, “echoed from a millennium and a half earlier, articulating a truth I had felt for a long time but hadn’t spoken.” 

In The Lamp, Vance explained his attraction for the Catholic Church. “I slowly began to see Catholicism,” he said, 

...as the closest expression of her [Mamaw’s] kind of Christianity; obsessed with virtue, but cognizant of the fact that virtue is formed in the context of a broader community; sympathetic with the meek and poor of the world without treating them primarily as victims; protective of children and families and with the things necessary to ensure they thrive. And above all: a faith centered around a Christ who demands perfection of us even as He loves unconditionally and forgives easily.

In the years leading up to his official conversion, Vance reported that he’d felt the touch of God during little moments. He was received into the Church in mid-August, in a private ceremony not far from his home. He admitted that on the day of his planned Baptism and First Communion, even though many members of his family came to support him, he felt a little apprehensive. Was he making a big mistake? But while he worried that Mamaw, had she lived, might not have welcomed the news of his conversion, in his mind he heard, in her voice, one of her favorite phrases: “Time to shit or get off the pot!”

J.D. chose as his patron saint St. Augustine, whose writing had inspired him to keep learning and ultimately to embrace the Catholic Faith. His article in The Lamp reveals that deep faith, even while acknowledging that he still has much to learn. “But the Church isn’t just about ideas and Saint Augustine,” he said. “It’s about going to Mass and receiving the Sacraments, even when it’s difficult or awkward to do so. It’s about so many things that I’m ignorant of, and the process of becoming less ignorant over time.”

J.D. Vance is relatively new, both in his faith life and in his political life. As he pursues his quest for truth and his service to God, America will certainly reap the benefits.