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suppose it shouldn't be surprising, since this is the autobiography of a politician, but I was indeed struck by the important role that Catholic social teaching played in the vice president's journey to Catholicismconfirming St. John Paul II's insight, by the way, that the social doctrine of the Church is crucial to evangelization. Like many others, Vance was impressed by the breadth and balance of this teaching, which cannot be characterized in the customary fashion: "It is neither conservative nor progressive; neither liberal nor authoritarian." He especially appreciated how the social doctrine as articulated by Pope Leo XIII refused to see economic classes as antagonistic to one another, "mutual agreement" resulting in the "beauty of good order." In this regard, Catholic social thought represented, for Vance, a welcome departure from the antagonistic social theorizing so prominent in wokeist circles.

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