It wasn't de Chardin's science that got him censored, however, but his extra-scientific explorations into evolutionary theology (if that's a phrase I may use) and his explorations of theological theories that seemed (because, if I recall correctly, of imprecision) to contradict even those things which he later attested his own belief in.  I think there's more but I cannot recall now.  

"The church has a pretty long history of taking a different approach, wherein so much is about the exercise of power and control."

Interesting.  I left academia and entered the marketplace a long time ago because I found that universities exhibited the exact behavior you ascribe to the Church.  I think its really more of a human thing; the institution is simply a carrier.  That said, theological hypotheses are awful hard to test.