Colbert on woman celebrating “eucharist”

Steven Colbert opined about how moving it was for him when an Anglican woman did a “eucharistic” ceremony.  Read: he is into women’s ordination.

Some people have asked me about this by email.

After careful consideration, I respond that Colbert’s celebrity notions have the same authority as those of Kim Kardashian.

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34 Comments

  1. Prayerful says:

    Not exactly surprising. I would be be far more surprised if he did not support the ordination of womyn, or he endorsed the Mass of Ages.

  2. Magash says:

    Colbert is a cafeteria Catholic in fine American tradition. It’s obvious to me he takes his religion seriously, however like many Americans he is badly catechized. Some times he gets it right. Often he gets it wrong. Either way his celebrity status means we all hear about it.

  3. robtbrown says:

    There is little doubt that Colbert is every bit as reliable on matters of Church teaching as he would be on Neurosurgery.

  4. CradleRevert says:

    I’ve never understood the popularity of Stephen Colbert among Catholic circles. I guess on one hand it is refreshing to hear someone popular in the entertainment industry who is proud to wear his Catholicism on his sleeve. On the other hand, once you listen to him, you quickly realize that he’s no more a Catholic than is Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi.

  5. Auggie says:

    When it comes to celebrities who are contemporary C(c)atholics, we need to refrain from elevating them (they all tend to fall or were already fallen but hid it) and instead focus on the Saints.
    “But I like Colbert.” “He’s preaching heresy.” “But I like him.” “He’s preaching heresy.” “But I like him.” Etc…
    What we like is often harmful to the Church.

  6. Dr. Edward Peters says:

    Colbert was mildly entertaining for while. Now he is going the way of all fleshly fads, straight into stupid.

  7. sw85 says:

    For all the talk of Colbert’s “Catholicism,” I never saw evidence that it amounted to anything more than that of Pelosi’s or Cuomo’s.

    “But he’s a catechist!!!”

    Oh, well, checkmate, right?

  8. markevanspiper says:

    Having just watched the segment on the Salt+Light interview, I don’t think he implies whatsoever that he is a proponent of women’s ordination. The fact that Colbert can so effortlessly quote large portions of C.S. Lewis, St. Anselm, and to a lesser extent Aquinas, and explain how he integrates each into his life is rather impressive – and again – gives no impression that he supports women’s ordination.

  9. SummerMarigold says:

    It is possible to be struck by truths even in a pantomime.

  10. Someone please be the Garrigue says:

    On the other hand, both of them are in a reasonably good position to complement the priestess on her acting ability. Very moving. Sniff.

  11. Thomas S says:

    Not surprised. I remember an interview with him from years ago talking about teaching CCD and asking the kids what qualities a Pope should have. He said he was so pleased that none of them said he should be a man.

  12. Jeannie_C says:

    Would have been better off attending a R.C. Mass where he could have been “moved” by the True Presence of Jesus Christ.

  13. Alanmac says:

    Quick!!! This sounds like a job for celebrity wishy washy Fr. James Martin!

  14. CradleRevert: “On the other hand, once you listen to him, you quickly realize that he’s no more a Catholic than is Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi.”

    All three of which are typically identified in the media as “devout Catholics”, even seem to be self-identified as such.

    Why is every celebrity Catholic automatically a “devout Catholic”? It almost seems as though every Catholic of any sort is regarded as “devout”.

    Whereas a celebrity Protestant is rarely or never identified as a “devout Protestant”. As though “devout” just doesn’t apply to Protestants.

  15. Legisperitus says:

    He claimed that he felt the Real Presence at this Anglican ceremony. So he’s catechized on the Real Presence, but obviously not on the invalidity of Anglican orders or the impossibility of conferring Holy Orders on women.

  16. Muv says:

    Didn’t have clue who Stephen Colbert was until googling him a minute ago. I’m still not much wiser. I hope that makes you all feel much better.

  17. donato2 says:

    There are many Catholics who find Protestantism more appealing than Catholicism. Unfortunately some of them have quite a bit of influence within the Vatican these days.

  18. ChesterFrank says:

    I remember one of the conservative catholic sites recently had a video clip of Colbert saying he really was not that big of a fan of the folk mass. He even did a jig parodying some of the new church music. I guess you can be a fan of the TLM and women priests, at least in Hollywood.

  19. Elizabeth D says:

    He’s a catechist? In my diocese catechists that teach children that women can be ordained as priests are not allowed to be catechists, and the DREs that permit them to mislead children do not have job security.

  20. Grumpy Beggar says:

    “Mildly entertaining”, if I can borrow Dr. Peters’ term, would’ve summed it up quite nicely.

    At least, until back in January 2011, when the pulled Superbowl ad which amounted to blasphemy against our Lord in the Holy Eucharist – compliments of Pepsi and Doritos became a topic in one of his reports. At the outset, it really looked as if he was going to defend the Catholic faith – the Blessed Eucharist . . . but as his diatribe was winding down the camera panned in on him to find him eating Doritos with a smirk on his face signing the piece with (if I recall correctly) the words, “but then again, I’m a corporate whore.”

    That was when I kind of lost my respect for him . . . still pray for him, but can’t really stomach any of his material ever since that episode.

  21. Grumpy Beggar says:

    It’s actually worse than I remember. The exact words according to Dr. David Jeremiah were, “Now folks I may be a devout Catholic, but I’m also a devout corporate whore.” After that it got even more disrespectful, but I missed it because I’d turned the TV off.

    Dr. Jeremiah has the transcripts written out here (scroll two thirds of the way down the page to Chapter 3 if you end up at the top)

  22. JARay says:

    Who on earth is this Stephen Colbert?

  23. wised says:

    Quoting saints and Catholic apologists can be impressive if their wisdom is integrated into your personal philosophy with a correctly educated conscience. C.S. Lewis was a christian to be sure, but reading C.S.Lewis and claiming to be a Catholic moved by woman playing priest is more confused christian than Catholic.
    As to CCD, when my daughter was in high school CCD, her teacher taught that mass attendance was “not that important”. Using CCD experience as a proof of Catholicism rings false with me, as we can now see with his current brand of catholicism.

  24. xylkatie says:

    I understand the reasoning to dismiss Colbert’s uninformed ramblings, but he does have the ear of a large portion of the American public (ratings notwithstanding; there is a lot of “reporting” of the wisdom that drops from his lips which has a much wider audience—especially when he speaks to Catholic topics). That said, when particularly egregious errors are being made and propagated, a positive correction is not out of line—not in the vein of: “Stephen Colbert is wrong” but rather, “Church teaching is this.”

  25. frjim4321 says:

    There was a piece on NPR the other morning about an ordained woman in Philly. There were clips from the liturgy, including things like, “Mother-Father God,” etc. All of these self-conscious contortions of language as are required to neuter it. It didn’t do much for me. I have no interest in participating in an illicit mass.

  26. ASPM Sem says:

    The quote needs to be taken in context… not saying he was right to say this, but ten seconds later he said “…a woman who I do not believe is a priest…”

  27. johnmann says:

    Here’s what he says:
    “Take this with some salt and light. One of the times I thought the Eucharist was most real to me was a time I didn’t receive it. I was actually at an Anglican church and a female priest was saying the Mass and it was a High Anglican Mass so the words were almost exactly the post-Vatican II liturgy of the Catholic Church. When I heard a woman say ‘this is my body,’ the freshness of hearing a woman say that gave the message a universality that it always should have and I’m not saying it doesn’t coming out of a male priest but it opened my ears to the possibility that it’s also my body that in my participation in the Eucharist, I participate in the gift that Christ gives me in a different way because I’m not a priest and the priest is up there doing his thing. He’s the boss up there and leading us and sharing the experience with him but there is a hierarchical feeling. To hear a woman say it, who I don’t perceive of as a priest, it also invited me to perceive everyone who isn’t a priest as engaging in the sacrament in an active way and opened my eyes to the message of that moment of the Gospel and the Mass in a way that I hadn’t had before. And now I invite everyone to attack me for suggesting women should be priests.”

  28. MikeM says:

    The aspect of Colbert’s remarks that stood out to me was how seeing a woman “priest” saying “Mass” led him to a conclusion that was bad theology regarding the Eucharist.

  29. Wade says:

    Thank you johnmann for posting a transcript of the remarks. “To hear a woman say it, who I don’t perceive of as a priest, it also invited me to perceive everyone who isn’t a priest as engaging in the sacrament in an active way . . . ” Is he trying to make a point about active participation while at the same time acknowledging that some will think that he is (and attack him for) suggesting that women should be priests?

  30. Auggie says:

    In the same interview, Colbert says, “The Church is a flawed and human institution.”
    Perhaps if a priestess told him, “The Church is one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic,” then he’d understand. But I doubt it.

  31. frjim4321 says:

    Colbert is the kind of personality that I hope is as genuinely kind and good in person as he appears to be in his public appearances.

    Were I to have Mr. Colbert as one of our catechists I would considered our parish very much blessed.

    [Color me unsurprised.]

  32. taffymycat says:

    how far we have fallen from the days when archbishop sheen had a weekly show so popular it won awards….

  33. TomG says:

    “very much blessed”: progressivism is the standard; everything else must take second place.

  34. robtbrown says:

    frjim4321 says:

    Colbert is the kind of personality that I hope is as genuinely kind and good in person as he appears to be in his public appearances.

    Were I to have Mr. Colbert as one of our catechists I would considered our parish very much blessed.

    Thank you for the succinct demonstration that liberals think there is Charity without Faith.

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