Kimberly Winston in The Washington Post’s On Faith section:
It was a different kind of religious message than Colbert typically delivers on Comedy Central’s "The Colbert Report," where he often pokes fun at religion – even his own Catholic Church – in pursuit of a laugh. Yet it was the kind of serious faith that some of his fellow Catholics say makes him a serious, covert and potent evangelist for their faith.
. . . . Colbert has said that he attends church, observes Lent and teaches Sunday school. "I love my church, and I’m a Catholic who was raised by intellectuals, who were very devout," he told Time Out magazine. "I was raised to believe that you could question the church and still be a Catholic."
. . . . The Rev. Kurt C. Wiesner, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Littleton, N.H., writes a blog about religion and popular culture. Watching Colbert’s congressional testimony, he saw something that reaches beyond Catholicism.
"He offered a human witness, without a doubt," Wiesner said. "He gave witness to what Christians are often called to do, but the message isn’t be a Christian like him. It is that one’s faith calls us to be engaged with our fellow human beings."
It is worth reading. Stephen Colbert may play religion for laughs, but his thoughtful Catholicism still shows through (syndicated, Religion News Network)
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