The lavish praise of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in Father Ron Rolheiser’s column in the June 12 issue, “Science and Christian faith: Friends not foes,” felt like a rehash of so many bad pieces written in the ’70s and ’80s.

Rolheiser makes no reference to how Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) rehabilitated Teilhard’s reputation and how Pope Francis practically elevated him to Doctor of the Church status. If this were written today, it would have seized on those validations.

The column’s opening line reads like a tired boomer Catholic stereotype, and is easily falsifiable: “During most of the 2,000 years that Christianity has existed, it has not been friends with science, and science has not been friends with it.”

His presentation of Teilhard’s thought goes beyond what Ratzinger’s cautious, prudent rehabilitation would permit us to accept as Catholics. This is a delusional boomer tripe and confusing to readers.

— Kenneth Lewis, San Diego