The Vance family is having a fourth child. Their recent announcement runs counter not only to the world’s declining fertility rate but also to trends within America’s increasingly childless elite. JD Vance himself has long noted that our situation is unnatural:

“Why have we let the Democrat Party become controlled by people who don’t have children? And why is this just a normal fact of American life? That the leaders of our country should be people who don’t have a personal and direct stake in it via their own offspring, via their own children and grandchildren?”

For further reading: First Things has covered the fertility crisis, which DeVito suggests might be resolved mimetically, for decades. Our founder, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, wrote “Where Have All the Children Gone?” (May 2005) about the obsolescence of population control. More recently, Darel E. Paul wrote a groundbreaking essay for our May 2025 issue, “Feminism Against Fertility.” If you want to understand how modernity fell fallow, it’s a must-read.

English converts to Catholicism get a lot of attention. But what of those who did not convert? John Duggan looks at the remarkable religious legacies of C. S. Lewis and T. S. Eliot, two men drawn to Rome who never crossed the Tiber. These non-converts are deserving of their own attention, Duggan argues.

For further reading: Early last month, Beatrice Scudeler reviewed a book about those who did go to Rome: “Why Creators Convert.” The book focuses on “all kinds of artists and intellectuals: writers, painters, poets, philosophers.”

As you may know, First Things is launching a series of topical newsletters. Our Catholic newsletter, titled The Fourth Watch, is out this week with a defense of Bishop Robert Barron’s style of engaging with media and culture.

From Jim Keating, the newsletter author: “The attacks on him are almost exclusively from left-leaning partisans who either wish to silence him or cajole him to speak as they wish. This has only intensified in recent weeks, given the troubles in Minnesota. . . . I would be pleased if Barron made a statement. The events seem to call for it—although deferring to the Archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul might be the better course.

That said, if he does speak out, I fully expect, given what I have already seen, that he will be respectful of the various and informed perspectives of his audience, and, more importantly, assess the situation in view of the principles of Catholic teaching that flow from the mystery of Christ.”

The Fourth Watch does deep dives into Catholic topics of concern. If you’re interested in the Protestant side of the Christian tradition, please subscribe to The Protestant Mind, which will launch next Tuesday. Twice a month, you’ll get the very best in Protestant thought from the immensley talented Dale Coulter.

Upcoming Events

• Today: Second Annual Angelicum Aquinas Lecture: “A Conversation with the Theologian of the Papal Household” ft. Fr. Wojciech Giertych, O.P. | New York, NY. Register here.

• February 10, 2026: The Protestant Mind newsletter launch by Dale Coulter | Subscribe here.

• March 5, 2026: Annual D.C. Lecture: “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” ft. Mary Harrington | Washington, DC. Register here.

Until next time,

JACOB AKEY

Associate Editor