As a former priest (ordained in 1963), I was on the road that you have traveled. In 1960 I somehow or other found Pierre Theilard deCharin’s first book. It surely was not part of the curriculum, but is surely penetrated my soul. I kept reading all of his books which I still keep as treasures. I then read many authors sharing the same vision until I met you. I have read and re-read many of your books. As I am re-reading THE HOURS OF THE UNIVERSE, I am thinking of you. Given my history of a priest who had to leave the Priesthood in 1969 after the Boston Diocese found me a disaster. In my first parish, I recall the other curate saying to me “Ed, I have never seen a more devoted priest, but you are owned by the Devil”. Several meetings with the diocesan authorizes got me transferred to another parish where I later found out that one of priests was assigned to straighten me out. That did not work. So I left, went to Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. However Pierre’s writings now advanced by you has been such a joy. Admittedly, I am no longer a “Catholic” and I am stressed by how all religions identified with the Divine that is so zeroed on some and not all. I live throughout each day and night when not sleeping or when a moment of stress emerges being with the Divine that is so present in all. Through my volunteering for hospice patients, I have had opportunities to share the vision. Sr. Ilia, I so humbly thank you.
