This is one of my favorite books, and more people should be exposed to it.
I’m still not exactly sure of the relevance to the broader HN audience though.
Was there commentary intended?
I find mixing Catholicism and Sci-Fi a quirky but heady mix. Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow is another, where Jesuits pilot an interplanetary mission.
Walter Miller wrote some interesting stories in interesting times: Vengeance for Nikolai (1957) had a vulnerable female Russian protagonist taking on mighty American invaders! (Recall that the early 50s were the era of McCarthy's purges against Communists in the US.)