Second Lady Usha Vance has opened up about why she has not converted to Catholicism despite her husband, US Vice President JD Vance, embracing the faith in 2019.
Speaking in an interview with CBS News’ Sunday Morning alongside her husband, Usha Vance said JD Vance’s return to religion had been a deeply personal experience shaped by his life, while her own upbringing had not led her to seek a different faith.
“I think in some ways it has been a very personal journey for him,” Usha said. “I grew up in a household, a Hindu household, a very stable household, and I’ve not felt the same sense of need to seek something different that he has.”
According to CBS News, the interview coincided with the release of JD Vance’s new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which explores his conversion to Catholicism and the role faith has played in his personal and political life.
Usha Vance on her interfaith marriage
Usha said that while she has not experienced a similar religious journey, she has tried to understand her husband’s evolving beliefs and how they fit into their family life.
“I think the journey has been more in our relationship, right? Trying to understand where he is and the different ways he’s thinking of things, how that fits into the life we have together, and less religious journey of my own,” she said.
The couple has previously spoken about raising their children in an interfaith household.
JD Vance recalls his childhood
During the interview, JD Vance linked his faith journey to the instability he experienced while growing up.
“And I grew up in some ways a very nontraditional household, you know? A revolving door of people coming in, people coming out, raised by my grandparents at some points, raised by my parents at some points, my mom, my dad,” he said.
“So there was a certain movement and chaos to my youth, and I do think that I was searching for something that, again, felt a little bit more rooted and felt a little bit more stable.”
His account aligns with his official White House biography, which says he was raised amid family instability, with his mother struggling with addiction and his grandparents playing a significant role in his upbringing.
Also Read: US Vice President Vance recalls his obsession with Usha in new memoir
Usha Vance addresses conversion speculation
The interview also touched on speculation surrounding whether Usha Vance might convert to Catholicism. “I think people have really cottoned onto the idea at one point that JD was interested in my conversion,” she said.
“And I think that that was misunderstood for the fundamental reason that he is Catholic; part of his faith is wanting to spread his faith. But it’s not like he’s proselytizing to me every day.”
Her remarks come months after JD Vance said at a Turning Point USA event that he hoped his wife would one day be moved by the Christian faith but stressed that the decision was entirely hers.
“Do I hope that eventually she is somehow moved by what I was moved by in church? Yeah, honestly, I do wish that, because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way,” he had said.
He added, “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”
