Vice President JD Vance is opening up about one of the most personal chapters of his life, revealing that a lack of strong Christian friendships and spiritual community contributed to him drifting away from the faith he grew up around.

During a recent interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Vance discussed his upcoming memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, sharing how his spiritual journey led him away from Christianity before ultimately bringing him back to God.

“My grandmother, who raised me, she was a person who prayed, she was a person of very deep faith,” Vance said. “But I was never actually that rooted in any particular church, in any particular community of members.”

Though Vance attended church “off and on” as a child, he admitted he was never deeply grounded in a strong Christian community. Looking back, he now believes that the lack of a spiritual foundation played a major role in why his faith slowly faded as he got older.

“I, unfortunately, had a lot of friends who were not people of faith,” Vance explained. “I had a lot of people who just did not, I think, properly support me in my own faith journey, and so … I kind of just lost it.”

The vice president said there was no dramatic moment where he rejected Christianity. Instead, his faith gradually became less important as he surrounded himself with people who did not take religion seriously.

“There wasn’t any particular moment,” he said. “It’s not like I had this particular fissure with my own Christian faith.”

Vance suggested his story mirrors what many young Christians experience after leaving home for college, the military, or the workforce. Without a strong church community or Christian friendships, he believes faith can easily become secondary.

“They get to the Marine Corps, they get to college, and they realize their faith just doesn’t mean that much to them, and so it’s easy to discard,” Vance said. “And that was certainly the case for me.”

But over time, Vance said he rediscovered the importance of faith and eventually returned to Christianity. The Ohio native, who is now Roman Catholic, described the process as a “long and winding road.”

“In a lot of ways, the story of this book is how I realized how powerful and important that faith could be,” he said.

Vance also reflected on his spiritual journey in excerpts released ahead of the book’s publication. In one passage shared by HarperCollins, he wrote, “The story of how I regained my faith, of course, only happened because I had lost it to begin with.”

He added that he now sees God’s grace throughout the process of finding his way back.

“I’m glad I found my way back to the Church,” Vance wrote. “I learned much along the way. But if you believe as I do, you know I’ve been fortunate and touched by God’s grace.”

Vance said he hopes sharing his story will encourage others who may be struggling spiritually or searching for reconciliation with God.

“I’m a Christian, and I became a Christian because I believe that Jesus Christ’s teachings are true,” he wrote. “By sharing my journey, I might be helpful to others — Catholic, Protestant or otherwise — who are seeking reconciliation with God.”

Before entering politics, Vance became nationally known for his bestselling 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which chronicled his difficult upbringing in Middletown, Ohio, including his mother’s battle with addiction and the profound influence of his faithful grandmother.

In recent years, Vance has increasingly spoken publicly about faith, family, and the importance of Christian community — themes that now appear central to both his personal testimony and his new book.