Vice President JD Vance is opening up about the deep personal lessons he learned from late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, sharing how his friend’s faith, family life and tragic death reshaped the way he thinks about fatherhood and the Christian life.

In an excerpt from his upcoming book Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, published by The Wall Street Journal ahead of the book’s June 16 release, Vance reflected on the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination last September and the emotional conversations he had with Kirk’s widow, Erika.

Kirk was killed during an event at Utah Valley University, and Vance traveled to Utah shortly afterward to comfort the grieving family. According to Vance, Erika’s greatest concern in those heartbreaking moments was not her husband’s political influence or public platform — it was her children.

“Erika’s thoughts kept returning to her kids,” Vance wrote, noting she worried her children “would have few, if any, personal memories of him.”

The vice president said the moment forced him to reevaluate what truly matters in life.

“I realized that in such moments, everything worldly we value fades to nothing,” Vance wrote. “Erika didn’t care that her husband was politically influential or had the president’s ear. She cared about her babies and the fact that an assassin had stolen Charlie from them.”

Vance also shared how Erika’s description of her husband convicted him personally. She reportedly told him that Kirk “never yelled, cursed or lost his temper” with her or their children.

“In the impromptu eulogy of her deceased husband, Erika convicted me,” Vance admitted. “Had I ever yelled or lost my temper with the kids? Indeed.”

The experience led him to think deeply about the kind of legacy he is leaving behind for his own family.

“I found myself wondering what my wife and kids would say about me if an assassin took my life,” he wrote. “Mostly good things, I thought. But none of them will care that I was the vice president.”

Vance also revealed that the tragedy unexpectedly impacted his own growing family. He shared that his wife, Usha, had long resisted having another child as public life brought increased scrutiny and pressure. But after Kirk’s death, something changed.

“Not long after we buried my friend, she became pregnant with our fourth child, a boy,” Vance wrote.

“One life was stolen from us, but another was given,” he continued. “I don’t know why God does things like this. But I am grateful to Him that there will soon be another source of joy in our lives.”

The vice president, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, also praised Kirk’s Protestant faith and said their friendship helped him appreciate the broader body of Christ.

“I take from Charlie a certain charity about the body of Christ,” Vance wrote. “There are things we Catholics can learn from Protestants, and vice versa.”

Calling Kirk “an amazing example of Christian charity,” Vance stressed the unity believers share despite their differences.

“As Christians, we are all, together, part of the same Church,” he wrote.

Vance also recalled a private conversation with Kirk during the 2024 presidential campaign when he admitted his young son was struggling with the sudden spotlight and media attention surrounding the family.

“Dad, I just want everyone to go back to treating us like they used to,” Vance remembered his son saying.

Rather than dismissing the hardship, Kirk encouraged him to acknowledge it honestly.

“Just try to take some solace in the fact that it’s a worthy sacrifice,” Kirk told him, later promising to pray for the family.

According to Vance, that advice helped his son slowly adjust to their new reality — one more example, he said, of the lasting wisdom his late friend left behind.