Stephen Colbert - practicing Catholic?

Stephen Colbert is an interesting person to me. For one thing, he has hosted some of the funniest moments on television I have ever watched, and his scheduled spot on Comedy Central, "The Colbert Report" is getting to be one of my regular bad habits.

But there's another aspect of Colbert that I haven't seen anyone on our side of the fence ever address, namely, Colbert is not only the youngest of 11 children, but also a practicing cradle-Catholic. A democratic, liberal, (less foul than most) joke-making Catholic, admittedly.

Some other interesting facts I've found after a brief google search on Colbert:

• At the beginning of one of his recent shows (which I have not seen), he recited the entire Nicene Creed.
• This Ash Wednesday, he kept his ashes on his forehead during every one of his television tapings, including the Colbert Report.
• One of his recent "The Word with Colbert" segments (on "faith"), has a series of typical Colbert jokes using fairly complex biblical foundations.
• When asked in a recent interview if he "still went to Church," Colbert responded: "Uh, yeah. One True Bride Of Christ."

Now - here is what I'm not arguing: I'm not arguing Colbert is a model Catholic participating in the MSM, and I'm not saying he's even a good Catholic personally.

However, from my limited contact with his comedy (which is near-flawless, fairly highbrow and extremely funny) and his frequent faith-related references (which seem on the whole to reveal a guy who has invested a fair amount of time and study into his faith), I'm suprised that I've never heard from anyone else that Colbert is Catholic - is there some reason he is being disowned that I'm missing?

Oh yeah, he also has three kids and is still married to his first wife. He is an avid Lord of the Rings fan (reciting from memory the detailed lineage of Aragorn's character in an interview with Viggo Mortensen), and - get this - he accurately prediced the top 5 Oscar awards last week (using his patented "Da-Colbert Code"!):



This kind of inspiration can only come from two sources. Hopefully, Colbert will take the higher path.