Pence was raised in an Irish-Catholic, Democratic-voting family in Columbus, Indiana. He even considered becoming a priest. He met his wife of 30 years, Karen, at Mass at a Catholic church in Indianapolis. Yet, as Pence told the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2010, during his freshman year at Hanover College, while attending a Christian music festival, “I gave my life to Jesus Christ and that changed everything.”
Much has been made of the fact that Pence at one time described himself as an “evangelical Catholic.” However, Pence has become reticent about the shift in his faith identity, according to Craig Fehrman, who wrote a 2013 profile of him for Indianapolis Monthly. Instead, he prefers to call himself an “ordinary Christian.” Pence “was torn between his family’s faith and background and a new more exciting faith,” Ferhman explained.
Read Full Article »