….Although Catholicism was, he says, “literally a foreign religion to me,” he was impressed by some Catholic friends and an uncle by marriage who was a great husband, father, and person. He also found much to admire and learn from in the writing of famous Catholic thinkers. And so Vance began to explore Catholicism. A brilliant young Dominican priest, Father Henry Stephan, became his spiritual guide. Vance writes about how Father Henry explained the Catholic understanding in a way that he found convincing:
For most of us, grace is not something that happens in a moment. You don’t feel God’s presence and then change in an instant. Real grace comes through practice. This is why we demand that you live a sacramental life: going to church, taking Communion, doing confession. This is a process. You don’t accept Jesus into your heart — or get baptized — and fix everything. That’s not the promise of the Church. The promise of the Church is that you are lost, and the Church will provide you a road map to God….
From Robert George in the Free Press
I enjoyed reading the entire article by the gifted Catholic professor at Princeton Univ., Dr. Robert George. I would be very interested to read J.D.Vance’s book. What accomplishments he has had, for someone so young, born into terrible poverty and suffering. I greatly admire his sincere embrace of the Catholic Faith, and honest belief that seeking to be a good husband and father is absolutely the most important thing in his life. I would also be interested to read any material that Vance’s mentor, Dominican priest, Fr. Henry Stephen, O.P. has written. He sounds like a gifted young priest.
It is heartening to read about the life of VP J.D. Vance, who rose from a terrible background of poverty, violence, drugs, and hopelessness, to a life of academic achievements, Yale Law School, a prestigious job as a lawyer, and political success– plus a successful marriage, two children, a sincere conversion to the Catholic Faith, and solid Christian beliefs and good family values. Compare that to someone like tragically-assassinated Pres. JFK– born into wealth and prestige, a cradle Catholic, yet with no morals, poor religious practice, and a filthy, immoral life of constant sexual sins and adultery– even though he had a beautiful wife and two lovely children– and rose to political success, as a U.S. President.