On The View last Tuesday, Stephen Colbert made a few headlines for making fun of Whoppi and Joy Behar for walking off the set after a heated argument on air with Bill O’Reilly the previous Thursday. But it’s what came after his mockery that actually deserves attention.

Changing the subject to his faith and family, Barbara Walters asked the comedian how his mom handled the death of his father and two of her 11 children in a plane crash in 1974, to which Colbert responded in all seriousness:

She had a very strong faith. She taught us to still love love life and not be bitter and to realize that everybody suffers and if you can accept your suffering you’ll just understand other people better. And, strangely enough, you have to be grateful for pain.

I don’t think I could have said it better myself – and I talk about this a LOT!

Here is the video (skip to about the 2 min mark for his discussion about his mother):

Also, be sure to check out Katheryn Jean Lopez’s lovely column: Stephen Colbert’s Sunday School. I have read many discussions between Catholics on the genuineness of Colbert’s faith, some thinking it’s just part of his act satirizing conservatives and pointing to his political leanings as proof he does not take his faith seriously.

No, his politics aren’t perfect and I have read an interview with him in which he revealed that he disagrees with the Church on contraception, but you cannot deny the moments of Truth amid his “truthiness”, which I think are not only genuine, but deliberate on his part.

One of my favorites is this interview of his with bioethicist Lee Silver on stem cell research. “If I let my arm go for a while and didn’t wash it, you’re saying I’d have babies on my arm?” Priceless.