US Vice President JD Vance has released a new memoir titled Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, published on June 18, 2026. The book primarily focuses on his spiritual journey, tracing his upbringing as an atheist and his eventual return to Roman Catholicism. This is his second book after 2016's Hillbilly Elegy, his bestselling memoir about his Ohio roots, though he has co-authored other works in between.
The Titanic Quote and Its Meaning
In Communion, Vance writes: "If the Titanic is going down, I'd rather be on board than hop on a lifeboat." At first glance, this statement seems surprising—why would anyone choose to sink with the Titanic? Vance explains that he felt ready to join the Catholic Church even during a tumultuous period. He converted to Catholicism in 2019, a time when the Church was mired in scandals and losing members. Vance states that he is the kind of person who would not abandon the Titanic as it sinks; he would stay on board rather than take a lifeboat. Here, he compares the Titanic to Catholicism, embracing it during a tough time because he believed in it. The quote reveals his loyalty, obligation, and sense of belonging.
Background and Early Life
Vance grew up in a turbulent working-class family in Ohio with roots in Appalachia. His childhood, famously described in Hillbilly Elegy, was marked by family instability, addiction, poverty, and frequent upheaval. He was largely raised by his grandmother, known as "Mamaw," who significantly shaped his values and early religious beliefs. In another part of the memoir, Vance writes that he never feared hell: "I don't worry about what I will find on the other side of eternal sleep. Even as a child, I never feared hell."
JD Vance's Conversion to Catholicism
One central theme of Communion is that Vance's return to Christianity was intellectual and philosophical as much as emotional. The book describes his movement from evangelical Christianity in childhood to skepticism and atheism as a young adult, before ultimately converting to Catholicism in 2019. His Mamaw held strong evangelical Protestant beliefs. As a teenager, Vance identified as a Christian, but during his college and law school years, he gradually became skeptical of religion.
Vance recounts that the most significant influence on his rediscovery of faith was René Girard, a French Catholic thinker known for his theory of "mimetic desire"—the idea that people often desire things because others desire them. While reading Girard, Vance became increasingly interested in Christianity's explanation of human behavior, morality, and social order. After years of study and reflection, Vance entered the Catholic Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), the standard process for adult converts. In August 2019, he was baptized and confirmed at St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati, Ohio. He chose St. Augustine as his confirmation saint, reflecting Augustine's influence on his thinking.
In Communion, Vance also notes that his Hindu wife, Usha Vance, observed that therapy did not help him, but going to church did.
