Vance attends traditional Latin Mass in Cincinnati with his family
J.D. Vance and his family attended a Mass celebrated according to the 1962 missal at Old St. Mary's Church in Cincinnati on Sunday, a liturgy he once said he was not especially drawn to
Vice President J.D. Vance and his family attended a traditional Latin Mass at Old St. Mary's Church in Cincinnati on Sunday, August 23. Years ago Vance said publicly that he did not feel especially drawn to the rite, though he also criticized the restrictions placed on it.
Several accounts posted on social media reported that he was there. Among them was Eric Sammons, editor of Crisis Magazine, a Catholic publication, who was at the Mass and confirmed that he had seen Vance with his family. Old St. Mary's, in the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, is the oldest Catholic church still in use in Cincinnati. Every Sunday it offers a low Mass according to the 1962 missal at 7:30 a.m. and a traditional sung Mass at 9:30 a.m.
It is not the first time Vance has been linked to the church. In February 2026, on an episode of the program Crisis Point, Sammons said the vice president occasionally attended Mass there when he was in the Cincinnati area. Another participant on the program said he had seen Vance receive Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue at another church in the area.
Vance has never presented himself as an advocate of the traditional liturgy. At a Napa Institute conference in 2021, shortly after the publication of the motu proprio Traditionis custodes by Pope Leo XIV, he said: "I'm not really a devotee of the Latin Mass." He added that he considered the pope's decision to restrict the liturgy unfair: "it struck me as unfair."
Vance converted to Catholicism as an adult and was received into the Church in 2019, in Cincinnati. Since becoming vice president, his religious practice has drawn public attention. He speaks openly about his faith and how it shapes his political outlook. Sunday's visit came during a trip back to Ohio. On Friday, August 21, he gave a speech on American industry in Middletown, his hometown, and on Saturday he was seen with his wife, Usha, and their children at a restaurant in the Cincinnati area, where the family keeps a residence.
Some analysts have said it may be the first time a sitting Catholic vice president has attended a Mass celebrated according to the older missal since John F. Kennedy, who died in 1963. Vance has continued to attend these Masses on his visits to Cincinnati, five years after his conversion and despite the reservations he expressed in 2021.
