‘They Have Choice': Usha Vance On Raising Interfaith Kids In Catholic-Hindu Home
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Usha Vance, a practicing Hindu, revealed how the couple navigates their differing religious backgrounds to create a spiritually inclusive home.
US Second Lady Usha Vance opened up about the complexities and conversations behind raising her three children- Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel- in an interfaith household. Married to US Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, Usha Vance, a practicing Hindu, revealed how the couple navigates their differing religious backgrounds to create a spiritually inclusive home.
'They can choose," Usha Vance said, referring to whether the children will be baptized Catholic, in a candid conversation on Meghan McCain's podcast Citizen McCain.
She continued, 'We send our kids to Catholic school, and we have given them each the choice, right? They can choose whether they want to be baptised Catholic and then go through the whole step-by-step process with their classes in school."
Raised Hindu, Usha Vance described her own family's spiritual life as rich and ongoing, explaining, 'My grandmother prays every day, she goes to temple regularly, she'll do her own pujas. My children have plenty of access to the Hindu tradition from books that we give them, to things that we show them, to the recent trip to India, and some of the religious elements of that visit."
Still, she admitted, not all Hindu festivals are celebrated at home.
'We're actually hoping to have a Holi party and we're looking forward to that next year," she added.
The couple's religious dynamic has evolved over the years, she said, sharing, 'At the time when I met JD, he wasn't Catholic. He converted later after we had our first child, maybe it was after Vivek was born too."
'We had to have a lot of real conversations about how do you do that, when I'm not Catholic, and I'm not intending to convert or anything like that," she said.
'Kids are smart," Usha Vance said, adding, 'They know I'm not Catholic, and they know there are many ways to experience the divine."
First Published:
June 26, 2025, 22:38 IST
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