A Priest Friend Writes from Ireland about Stephen Colbert

Saw your article on Stephen Colbert.

Sadly we don’t get him this side of the pond but by the powers of YouTube I’ve discovered he has thing for 70s Catholic Church pop & more importantly a big fan of Tolkien (& Star Wars) – so he can pass!

It’s remarkable – to see someone who unwittingly is a pre-evangelist to the popular culture. Here it would be impossible. Catholicism in Ireland – as we saw in the vote – is old rope. You can detect hints of it in Christopher West’s recent blog referring to Bono & his glib Jansenist take on sexual teaching. Sadly many of the vocal clergy here share his tastes in music.

At same time Bono can’t be blamed for his stance. Apart from stifling media groupthink Catholic education specifically the catechetical programme for two generations, is and has been very glossy but without content; not much unpacked beyond “God is love”.

(We can’t seem to find a way past the loopiness of felt banners & banal Church lyrics. I may ask you this again..)

That is why I found this I found it refreshing that Mr Colbert is without fear but full of joyful life. A credit to his mother indeed.

I can’t help but like the man. He’s the only person in public life who could go on nationwide TV and get millions of people to cheer for the Creed.

Yes. Yes. I’m aware he’s a lefty and it is always necessary to go through the ritual kabuki of denouncing this in order to establish that one is a Real Catholic and pass the customary purity tests. But for my money, I think it a better use of one’s time to be grateful that somebody is bearing witness to the faith in a place where nobody is bearing witness to the faith than to do nothing. And I prefer satirists who punch up at the abusive and powerful than those, like Limbaugh and Coulter, who punch down at the homeless and disabled.