‘Communion’ Sets Out JD Vance’s Two Competing Articles of Faith

‘Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith’By JD VanceHarper, 304 pagesAt a press conference last May, Vice President JD Vance spoke with compassion about a “terrible shooting” that had just happened at a Muslim community center in San Diego. Mr. Vance noted that his wife, Usha Vance, grew up so close to the crime scene that her family “absolutely” knew people who worshiped there, and added: “I encourage every single American to pray for everyone…affected by [these murders].”Minutes later, at the same press conference, Mr. Vance supported — unprompted — immigrant-restriction rallies in England. “It’s OK to want to defend your culture… A lot of people in the media have tried to persuade all of those [protesters] that it’s somehow racist to want to protect your borders.” In a matter of moments, Mr. Vance had displayed his two distinct personas: The thoughtful, reflective man of faith, and the MAGA culture warrior.Which of these is the real JD Vance? And will either of them win the Republican presidential nomination when primaries begin 20 months from now? Mr. Vance’s much-debated new book “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” tries to answer some of these questions, evades others, and — most importantly — raises urgent and interesting new questions about the vice president and America.Much attention, thus far, has been paid to Mr. Vance’s comments on Charlie Kirk and “childless cat ladies,” at the expense of his far more interesting musings on consumerism, papal encyclicals, and La Cosa Nostra. Early reviews of “Communion” have also chided Mr. Vance for going easy on Donald Trump, which only goes to show that some pundits still don’t grasp how political memoirs or presidential administrations actually work.As for Mr. Vance’s more ideological critics, they need to confront some hard questions. The most pressing of these is that in the ten years that MAGA has now set the nation’s political, cultural and spiritual agenda, have they produced a national figure who can speak with greater conviction and authenticity to middle Americans about law, order, God, poverty, family, and military service?It is fair to say that “Communion” is not as compelling or coherent a read as “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was written by an unknown, ideologically-amorphous author who’d just turned 30, and explored more visceral topics — coming-of-age amidst poverty and addiction, coming to terms with trauma. The most intriguing passages in “Communion” are Mr. Vance’s heartfelt testimonies to the power of faith. “Christianity had become completely irrelevant to me,” he felt, after leaving his Ohio-Kentucky family for the Marines. JD Vance not only re-found religion, but converted to Catholicism, with its “sacramental ritual around guilt” and “rich social tradition” emphasizing family and community over individualism. It would have been interesting to hear Mr. Vance’s thoughts about why so many young conservatives have recently turned to the Roman church, especially given the G.O.P.’s extensive evangelical Protestant network.This is important because — and this is a major shortcoming of “Communion” — Catholicism has such a contested history in America, one that is neither abstract nor ancient. America did not name an official Vatican ambassador until the year JD Vance was born, 1984, because of lingering fears about foreign influence. President Trump himself had intimate ties to celebrated pastor Norman Vincent Peale, who saw JFK’s 1960 election as, well, the kind of cultural threat Mr. Vance talks a lot about these days.If the 1891 papal encyclical Rerum Novarum deserves space in Mr. Vance’s book — and it does, making for some of the best passages in “Communion” — then so does Catholicism’s long, strange trip to the American mainstream. Mr. Vance confronts “social instability” caused by earlier Irish and Italian immigrants, only to ignore an obvious follow up: If America was able to absorb those once-terrifying (mostly Catholic) immigrants, why does he believe so many newcomers today are a distinct threat to “the West”?Mr. Vance is clearly far more comfortable speaking of a broader “Christianity,” which plays kind of the same role as his extended family in “Hillbilly Elegy,” dysfunctional, flawed, yet deserving of loyalty and love. A cynic could argue that Mr. Vance simply doesn’t want to offend conservative Protestant voters, though this wide theological net might just as well be aimed at young men enduring a “crisis of faith” similar to his own.Whatever pandering Mr. Vance may or may not be doing, his harsh take on American consumerism is one to be reckoned with. Has the Trump administration cozied up to tech titans who enable this very materialism? Certainly. Can any high-ranking MAGA figure legitimately call for more “humility,” as Mr. Vance does? Probably not.In the end, Mr. Vance often comes off as muddled, smug, or hypocritical. And all of the above, in his brief interactions with the Vatican diplomatic corps. That The New Yorker magazine, of all places, objected to Mr. Vance’s “disdainful” treatment of Catholicism shows you just what kind of bizarre world we’re now living in.There are other looming problems Mr. Vance probably should have, but did not, address in “Communion.” It’s not secular socialists, after all, who’ve harassed Mr. Vance for having an “Indian wife” and “nam[ing] their kid Vivek,” but a proud Christian nationalist — and White House dinner guest — named Nick Fuentes, and others like him.In the end, “Communion” reads like the work of two authors. One is a bookish, faithful father who loves his family and C.S. Lewis. The other wields existential rhetoric to alert Americans (especially the Republican “religious rank and file,” as opposed to “business elites”) about a civilizational crisis.How long can JD Vance’s two personas hang together, before they hang separately? We’ll start finding out the answer in less than two years’ time.Tom Deignan has written about religion and history for the Washington Post, National Catholic Reporter and Commonweal magazine. He is working on a book about religion in the 1920s.

‘Communion’ Sets Out JD Vance’s Two Competing Articles of Faith

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