A clip from Stephen Colbert’s late-night show was sent to me many times in recent days. In it, he gave a lovely reflection on his Catholic faith and his comedy, at the prompting of a guest. He demonstrated humility when he expressed his hope that Jesus has a sense of humor.
But I can’t un-hear what Colbert said on his show in the wake of the oral argument in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Supreme Court case. It was vile and not informed by Catholic teaching.
Our shared Catholic faith is not political, it is not cultural; it is a challenge to both and to our lives. We tend to want to make it make us more comfortable. The only thing I’m comfortable with is the knowledge that I’m nothing compared to the love of God. We need to do better for women and babies and families and every man, woman, and child. We are not doing better when we let the Supreme Court lie about science and law and the human person and its possibilities. We are not doing better when we are a nation that not only allows but pressures and even seems to prefer abortion.
I wonder whether Stephen Colbert knows the Sisters of Life. I think they would melt his heart with their love for the vulnerable unborn and their vulnerable moms. I believe he is sincere in his love of God and pray for him and hope he might pray for those of us he seems to clearly disagree with on abortion. We should all pray for a day when this issue won’t divide us so viscously, and we will all work together to make sure women can be the mothers they already are, with all the love and support they need.
And I certainly pray for Catholics who are unafraid to share the fullness of the faith with courage and clarity, even in entertainment.
We are all imperfect, we are all on a journey. I just couldn’t have warm feelings about the clip the other night when abortion remains legal in America — and will remain so in many states long after Roe v. Wade is overturned, if it is in June — and when people who presumably know better won’t stand up for the vulnerable unborn and their vulnerable moms. To quote a friend who works in the pro-life vineyard: “Women are never served by abortion.”
Stephen Colbert knows intimately and deeply and tragically what a delicate gift human life is. I pray that he can join us in the public square one day in talking about that even in the context of abortion.