Vice President JD Vance’s new book “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” about his conversion to Catholicism, features a Methodist church on the front cover.
Vance announced the book, described by publisher Harper Collins as a reflection on how Vance regained his faith and converted to Catholicism, on March 31. The same day, reporter Joe Perticone of The Bulwark noticed that the church featured on the cover of the book is not a Catholic church, but the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, in Elk Creek, Virginia.
A Google Street View of a road in front of Mt. Zion UMC appears to match the cover of Vance’s book almost exactly, The Dispatch found.
The cover of Vance’s book appears to be a stock photo taken by photographer Tim Pennington. Several similar photos of the church can be found on stock photo website Getty Images.
Tina Andreadis, a spokesperson for HarperCollins, told USA TODAY that the church was chosen for the cover because it “comes from the part of the country where Vice President Vance grew up.” Vance was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, around 370 miles from Mt. Zion UMC.
USA TODAY national trending news reporter Mary Walrath-Holdridge contributed to this report.
Dispatch transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: JD Vance’s new book on Catholicism has a Methodist church on the cover
Reporting by Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
