{"id":19587,"date":"2026-06-10T23:39:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/cincinnati-where-vance-converted-gives-a-glimpse-of-catholicisms-history-in-americas-heartland\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T23:39:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:09:29","slug":"cincinnati-where-vance-converted-gives-a-glimpse-of-catholicisms-history-in-americas-heartland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/cincinnati-where-vance-converted-gives-a-glimpse-of-catholicisms-history-in-americas-heartland\/","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati, where Vance converted, gives a glimpse of Catholicism\u2019s history in America\u2019s heartland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_mabyJHlNzjK?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.5\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(The Conversation) \u2014 Ten years after \u201cHillbilly Elegy\u201d catapulted its author into public view, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/communion-j-d-vance?variant=45116963192866\">JD Vance is publishing a new memoir<\/a>, \u201cCommunion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.\u201d The vice president explains the book as a sort of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/blogs\/press-releases\/harper-to-publish-communion-finding-my-way-back-to-faith-a-new-book-by-vice-president-jd-vance\">self-help guide for the spiritually lost<\/a>: \u201c\u2026 by sharing my journey I might be helpful to others \u2013 Catholic, Protestant, or otherwise \u2013 who are seeking reconciliation with God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scheduled for publication in June 2026, \u201cCommunion\u201d promises \u201can intimate account\u201d of its author\u2019s religious journey. But the Catholicism to which Vance converted in Cincinnati in 2019 is quite unlike the evangelism he encountered in his childhood, famously described in \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/hillbilly-elegy-j-d-vance?variant=32207704424482\">Hillbilly Elegy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a <a href=\"https:\/\/miamioh.edu\/regionals\/profiles\/matthew-smith.html\">historian of religion<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/tupress.temple.edu\/books\/the-spires-still-point-to-heaven\">in Appalachia and the Midwest<\/a>, I find America\u2019s religious mosaic endlessly fascinating. Vance\u2019s journey from Protestantism, to atheism, to Catholicism, not to mention his <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2025\/11\/03\/why-i-hope-she-converts-is-bad-for-usha-vance-for-love-and-for-america\/\">marriage to a Hindu woman<\/a>, reflects the diversity of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>My <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/revisiting-middletown-ohio-the-midwestern-town-at-the-heart-of-jd-vances-hillbilly-elegy-234975\">own experiences<\/a> teaching in Vance\u2019s hometown of Middletown, Ohio, suggest that America\u2019s Midwestern communities, tarnished by \u201cRust Belt\u201d stereotypes, are as dynamic and as changing as everywhere else \u2013 including in matters of faith.<\/p>\n<p>Nearby Cincinnati, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/25\/us\/jd-vance-catholic-church-conversion.html\">Vance was confirmed<\/a> at a Dominican priory, is a case in point and a window into Catholicism\u2019s history in the American heartland. For more than a century, anti-Catholicism was a powerful force in culture and politics \u2013 yet, time and again, religious pluralism triumphed.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/739871\/original\/file-20260603-57-2215m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"A brown-haired man looks ahead of him, hands clasped, as he leans his elbows on a padded railing.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, attend services at St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in the Vatican on Good Friday, April 18, 2025.<\/span><br \/><span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/vice-president-jd-vance-and-his-wife-usha-vance-attend-the-news-photo\/2210188780?adppopup=true\">Andreas Solaro\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Scots-Irish settlers<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cTo understand me, you must understand that I am a Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/hillbilly-elegy-j-d-vance?variant=32207704424482\">Vance declared in his first memoir<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Scots-Irish played <a href=\"https:\/\/search.worldcat.org\/title\/778618998\">an outsized role in history<\/a>. Initially, these Protestants were from Scotland, but they moved to Ireland in the 17th century. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/bitesize\/articles\/z2bgsrd\">Planted\u201d by the British Crown<\/a> as a form of colonization, these immigrants riled the Catholic majority whose lands they occupied.<\/p>\n<p>Later, many crossed the Atlantic and settled the Colonial American backcountry. Their distinctive influence <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lmc.edu\/about\/news-center\/articles\/2022\/in-the-mountains-the-scots-irish-heritage-in-appalachia.htm\">shaped the \u201chillbilly\u201d culture of Appalachia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The faith of these settlers kindled a fervent Protestant piety, found in the <a href=\"https:\/\/npshistory.com\/series\/symposia\/george_rogers_clark\/1991-1992\/sec5.htm\">Great Revival<\/a> of the Ohio Valley frontier. In this early 19th-century rebirth of backcountry religion, traveling ministers preached a fiery gospel of grace, stirring large crowds with their open-air sermons.<\/p>\n<h2>Queen City<\/h2>\n<p>Boundaries between urban and rural America were always porous. <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostatepress.org\/books\/titles\/9780814208991.html\">By 1830<\/a> a quarter of Ohio\u2019s 1 million inhabitants clustered in the state\u2019s southwestern corner. Cincinnati was the heart of this region: the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/7879298aac6c47c28ab3f75e59b22c6d\">Queen City<\/a>\u201d of the United States\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cincinnati.com\/story\/news\/2020\/12\/22\/why-cincinnati-called-queen-city\/4007103001\/\">expanding Western frontier<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It had become a hub of Catholic immigrants <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cincinnati-cityofimmigrants.com\/german\/\">from Germany<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cincinnati-cityofimmigrants.com\/irish\/\">and Ireland<\/a> \u2013 and a center for anti-Catholic preaching and anti-immigrant politics. In 1835, leading Protestant evangelist <a href=\"https:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/document\/a-plea-for-the-west\/\">Lyman Beecher infamously denounced immigrants<\/a> \u201crushing in like the waters of the flood\u201d and argued the Vatican and Catholic schools posed dangers for America.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/739875\/original\/file-20260603-57-sxxl17.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"A sepia illustration of a wooden building with a small cross on the top.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">The first Catholic parish in Cincinnati originally met in a small building just outside city lines.<\/span><br \/><span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Christ_Church,_First_Catholic_Church_built_in_Cincinnati--Erected_1821.jpg\">Cincinnati Public Library via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Amid such prejudice, Protestant Irish Americans embraced the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/us\/irish-americans-9781608192403\/\">term Scots-Irish<\/a> to distinguish their more established population from recent Catholic arrivals. Many of these Catholic newcomers, fleeing famine and persecution, were disparaged as <a href=\"https:\/\/chrc-phila.org\/thomas-nast-anti-irish-cartoons\/\">poor, illiterate and superstitious<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Yet despite alarmism and periodic violence, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/article\/the-new-york-times-cincinnati-riots-1855\/33454076\/\">ethnic riots in 1855<\/a>, Cincinnati\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.exhibit.xavier.edu\/hab\/4\/\">sectarian relations were surprisingly pragmatic<\/a>, shaped by a sense of shared civic endeavor. Protestants welcomed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Dialogue_on_the_Frontier\/4jPfbCh_qYUC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;bsq=1819\">the city\u2019s first Catholic church<\/a>, for example, and often sent their children to the Catholic parochial schools. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/The_Spires_Still_Point_to_Heaven\/lTGYEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22the+spires+still+point%22+converts+protestant&amp;pg=PA101&amp;printsec=frontcover\">Many converted to Catholicism<\/a>, including wealthy philanthropists.<\/p>\n<p>In 1837, Cincinnati\u2019s Catholic Bishop, John Baptist Purcell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/A_Debate_on_the_Roman_Catholic_Religion\/J5hdAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=purcell+debates+cincinnati+infallible&amp;printsec=frontcover\">debated Protestant preacher Alexander Campbell<\/a> on the merits of Catholic religion for several days before a crowded audience. Both debaters claimed victory, and proceeds from the published debates were evenly split between Catholic and Protestant charities in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n<h2>Changing country<\/h2>\n<p>By the mid-19th century, the city\u2019s Catholics, while still a minority, were larger than any single Protestant denomination and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Religion_Race_and_Reconstruction\/Mtz3GLA4iO8C?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=catholic+immigration+cincinnati&amp;pg=PA27&amp;printsec=frontcover\">central to the cultural landscape<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/739879\/original\/file-20260603-57-h07n02.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"A black and white photo of a large crowd standing along a road with a large white building in the background.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">People observe the National Eucharistic Congress, a gathering for Catholics, in Cincinnati in 1911.<\/span><br \/><span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:1911_National_Eucharistic_Congress_Cincinnati.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>At the time, Catholics represented only 5% of the U.S. population. That percentage would <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalhumanitiescenter.org\/tserve\/nineteen\/nkeyinfo\/nromcath.htm\">triple by the turn of the century<\/a>, due to immigration from southern and eastern Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Anti-Catholic backlash <a href=\"https:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/A\/bo5970092.html\">continued into the 20th century<\/a>, along with other forms of religious prejudice. For example, the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/a-century-ago-anti-immigrant-backlash-almost-closed-americas-doors-228589\">Immigration Act of 1924<\/a> restricted immigration from parts of Europe heavily populated by Jews and Catholics. Animosity once focused on immigrants from Germany and Ireland shifted to those from Italy and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Bias against Catholics remained a robust force in Appalachian politics, too. Leading up to the 1960 Democratic primary, John F. Kennedy campaigned tirelessly in West Virginia, considered a tough arena for a Harvard-educated Catholic but critical to his electoral strategy. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jfklibrary.org\/visit-museum\/exhibits\/special-exhibits\/winning-west-virginia-jfks-primary-campaign\">His success in the Mountain State<\/a> defied the myth that a Catholic candidate could never win the White House.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/739878\/original\/file-20260603-69-wvr58k.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"A black and white photo of a man in a suit above a crowd, standing on a stage on a downtown street.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">John F. Kennedy campaigns in West Virginia on May 10, 1960.<\/span><br \/><span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/john-f-kennedy-standing-on-stage-during-a-campaign-stop-in-news-photo\/615298326?adppopup=true\">Corbis\/Corbis Historial via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Turn toward \u2018Communion\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Southern Ohio, where Vance grew up and converted to Catholicism, is deeply Midwestern. But its heritage has been influenced by <a href=\"https:\/\/press.princeton.edu\/books\/hardcover\/9780691191119\/hillbilly-highway\">the wave of workers who left Appalachia<\/a> in the mid-20th century looking for jobs, including Vance\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p>As Vance wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/thelampmagazine.com\/blog\/how-i-joined-the-resistance\">a 2020 essay<\/a> for Lamp magazine, which addresses Catholic issues, his early ideas of Catholicism were negative ones \u2013 assuming, for example, that the church \u201crejected the legitimacy of Scripture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a young man, he drifted away from faith altogether. During his days at Yale Law School, however, Vance discovered a curiosity that drew him toward Catholicism, inspired by thinkers from Silicon Valley mogul Peter Thiel and French philosopher Ren\u00e9 Girard to <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/st-augustine-was-no-stranger-to-culture-wars-and-has-something-to-say-about-todays-242372\">the fourth-century theologian St. Augustine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thelampmagazine.com\/blog\/how-i-joined-the-resistance\">Vance wrote in his essay<\/a>, \u201cI often wonder what my grandmother\u201d \u2013 a woman with Christian beliefs, but skepticism of institutional religion \u2013 \u201cwould have thought about her grandson becoming a Catholic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/religion\/2025\/06\/16\/47-of-us-adults-have-a-personal-or-family-connection-to-catholicism\/\">1 in 5 U.S. adults is Catholic<\/a>, and another 9% consider themselves \u201ccultural Catholics.\u201d America\u2019s prejudice toward their tradition has eroded. <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/opinion\/polling-matters\/391649\/religion-supreme-court-justices.aspx\">Six out of nine Supreme Court justices<\/a> are Catholic, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/religion\/2025\/01\/02\/faith-on-the-hill-2025\">28% of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Vance\u2019s new faith highlights a growing alliance between culturally conservative elements of American Catholicism and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thearda.com\/us-religion\/history\/timelines\/entry?etype=1&amp;eid=46\">America\u2019s religious right<\/a>, dominated by conservative Protestants since its emergence in the 1970s.<\/p>\n<p>Lately, this alignment has come under strain, in part reflecting American-born Pope Leo XIV\u2019s wariness toward U.S. policies, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/04\/13\/nx-s1-5783008\/trump-pope-leo\">such as the war in Iran<\/a>. Nowhere have such spats been more ironic than in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/trump-administration\/vance-warns-pope-careful-talking-theology-rcna331881\">Vance\u2019s rebuke<\/a> of the pope. After Leo remarked that Jesus\u2019 followers are \u201cnever on the side of those who once wielded the sword <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Pontifex\/status\/2042588417578668338\">and today drop bombs<\/a>,\u201d the vice president warned, \u201cIf you\u2019re going to opine on matters of theology, you\u2019ve got to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It will be interesting to see how such tensions play out in years to come.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Matthew Smith, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Miami University. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/282310\/count.gif\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/10\/cincinnati-where-vance-converted-gives-a-glimpse-of-catholicisms-history-in-americas-heartland\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(The Conversation) \u2014 Ten years after \u201cHillbilly Elegy\u201d catapulted its author into public view, JD Vance is publishing a new memoir, \u201cCommunion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.\u201d The vice president explains the book as a sort of self-help guide for the spiritually lost: \u201c\u2026 by sharing my journey I might be helpful to others [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}