James Carroll gets fundamentalism fuddled

It's difficult, often, to believe that Boston Globe columnist James Carroll actually studied Catholic theology. His latest attack on the Church in the form of equating Benedict XVI's Sacramentum Caritatis with "Fundamentalism" makes it even more difficult.

Some incredible statements include:

Catholic fundamentalists are more likely to be called "traditionalists," and today the Vatican is their sponsor.

This is indeed a crock. The term "Catholic Traditionalist" is a crock in and of itself. One is either faithful to the Magisterium or one is not. James Carroll obviously is not. This is certainly his right. What is not his right is to mistakenly label Catholics faithful to the Church as "fundamentalists." Or "traditionalists" for that matter. I for one am sick and entirely tired of being called a "conservative" or a "traditional" Catholic. I'm a Catholic. End of sentence. Live with it.

As for Sacramentum Caritatis (which he refuses to even grant a title!)

What begins as a contemplative appreciation of the Eucharist ends up as a manifesto designed to keep many Catholics from receiving Communion at Mass.

This is a bleeping lie. Period.

A rather astonishing treatise on "negotiation" follows:

Take "conception." The great Thomas Aquinas depended on 13th-century notions of biology, and did not believe that human life began at conception. Negotiation followed.

Uh...no, Jimmy. It wasn't "negotiation." It was the result of seeking the truth. The Angelic Doctor relied, as you say, on the science of his day. Science -- true science -- unearthed the truth, as I suspect you well know. That life begins at conception (and lose the quote marks, would you?) is a fact. Even pro-aborts know it.

Ask John Kerry, for one.