Lucas Briola, PhD

About

A Pittsburgh native, Dr. Lucas Briola graduated from Saint Vincent College, double majoring in theology and history. He earned an M.T.S. from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and a Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America. His two books are entitled The Eucharistic Vision of Laudato Si’: Praise, Conversion, and Integral Ecology (The Catholic University of America Press) and, co-edited with Joseph Ogbonnaya, Everything Is Interconnected: Towards a Globalization with a Human Face and an Integral Ecology (Marquette University Press). His essay, “Praise Rather Than Solving Problems: Understanding the Doxological Turn of Laudato Si’ Through Lonergan” (Theological Studies) won the 2021 Award for Best Article of the Year from the College Theology Society. His essays have also appeared in New Blackfriars, The Lonergan Review, the Journal of Moral Theology, and the Downside Review. Prior to teaching, he performed parish work in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Briola facilitates theology student internships at Saint Vincent; sites have included Holy Family Parish (Latrobe, PA), Saint Vincent Basilica Parish (Latrobe, PA), and St. Barbara Parish (Harrison City, PA). In 2020, he helped launch the Rev. Nathan Munsch, OSB, Scholarship Fund for junior and senior theology majors at Saint Vincent College. Theology Fellow for the Saint Vincent Center for Catholic Thought and Culture, he has organized several faculty and student reading groups as well as serves as the managing editor of Conversatio, a Saint Vincent in-house academic journal. A cross-country runner on the first PAC Championship team in Saint Vincent history (and captain on another PAC Championship team), Dr. Briola has run four marathons (including the Boston Marathon) and three ultra-marathons. His wife, Catherine, also teaches theology at Saint Vincent; they have one son.

Education

PhD, The Catholic University of America
MTS, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
BA, Saint Vincent College

Courses

Listening Seminar
Basics of Catholic Faith
Profiles in Catholic Social Justice
Theology of Aquinas
Eucharist: Sacrament of Salvation
Green Discipleship
Christian Faith and Technology
TH Major/Minor Seminars (e.g., Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity, American Catholic Radicalism

Expertise

Catholic Environmentalism
Catholic Social Ethics
Ecclesiology
Eucharistic Theology
Modern Catholic Theology