Second Lady Usha Vance says the Catholic faith has provided stability and direction for Vice President JD Vance, recently remarking that while therapy may help some people, the Church is what has made a difference in her husband’s life.
Ahead of the release of JD’s new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, Usha commented in a recent interview with CBS News' “Sunday Morning” on her husband's 2019 conversion to Catholicism and the role faith has played in his life.
Robert Costa asked Usha about a remark JD recalled her having made to him: “Therapy didn't work for you; church does.”
Usha explained that while therapy can be beneficial for many people, her husband “just didn't have the right kind of trust in that process.” Instead, he found a sense of belonging through the Church.
People reported that the book recounts the vice president's conversion to Catholicism and explores how faith has influenced his personal life, political views, and marriage.
The vice president agreed that his faith journey was shaped in part by a desire for stability following what he described as a turbulent childhood.
“There was a certain movement and chaos to my youth,” Vance told CBS News. “I do think that I was searching for something that, again, felt a little bit more rooted and felt a little bit more stable.”
In the interview, Usha Vance also addressed public discussion surrounding the couple's interfaith marriage. Raised in the Hindu faith, she said some interpreted her husband's previous comments about hoping she might one day embrace Christianity as an effort to pressure her into conversion.
“I think people really cottoned onto the idea at one point that JD was interested in my conversion,” she said. “And I think that that was misunderstood.”
She added that while sharing the faith is a natural part of Catholic belief, “it's not like he's proselytizing to me every day.”
According to People, the Vances have previously said they are raising their children in the Christian faith. The outlet also reported that the couple, who married in 2014, are expecting their fourth child in the coming weeks.