Theology Department head now serving as CCTC director
LATROBE, PA – Saint Vincent College is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Lucas Briola, C’13, as the Endowed Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture and a member of the Roundtable of Scholars at the College.
Briola, an associate professor and chair of the Theology Department housed in the College’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, was appointed to the position in April 2026. He started teaching at the College full time in fall 2019.
The primary responsibility of the Chair is to serve as director of the Saint Vincent College Center for Catholic Thought and Culture (CCTC), an interdisciplinary academic institute created in 2019 and dedicated to advancing the College’s Catholic, Benedictine and liberal arts mission. It fosters scholarship across various fields, including theology, philosophy, marriage and family, politics, economics, rhetoric, fine arts and science.
“We are excited about Dr. Lucas Briola’s leadership at the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture at Saint Vincent College and appointment as the Endowed Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture,” said Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B., C’87, S’91, PhD, president of Saint Vincent College. “He keeps his teaching and research at the highest levels, breaking new ground in insights into theology and our Church and then offering those ideas to our students. While he has diverse research interests, his prescient work on Laudato Si’ and the Eucharist is seen by many as the sacramental connection for the care for our common home.”
Previously, the two positions were collectively known as the Endowed Director of the Saint Vincent College Center for Catholic Thought and Culture, which was filled by Dr. Jerome Foss. He has been a member of the Department of Political Science in the College’s Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government since 2011. Foss founded the CCTC and served as its inaugural Endowed Director.
In 2022, Briola, Foss and their CCTC peers were recognized with the Saint Vincent College Projektenmacher Award for their work with the Center. Foss now moves into a new role as assistant vice president for academic affairs and director of the SVC Core alongside his existing roles as director of SVC Honors and professor of political science.
Briola earned degrees in history and theology from Saint Vincent College. He then earned a Master of Theological Studies in 2015 from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and a PhD in systematic theology in 2019 from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
He currently teaches a variety of classes, including Basics of Catholic Faith, first-year Listening Seminar, and upper-level theology courses such as Green Discipleship, Faith and Technology and Gospel of Life/Gospel of Creation. He was presented with the Quentin Schaut Faculty Award in 2024.
“Dr. Briola is a talented and thoughtful scholar who works tirelessly to bring Catholic thought and culture to the service of people and God’s creation,” said Dr. Elaine Bennett, AHSS dean. “His appointment to this role will strengthen the Saint Vincent College community’s engagement with the Catholic intellectual tradition applied to addressing the issues of today and will deepen our connections with these efforts nationally and internationally.”
As the Endowed Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture and CCTC director, some of Briola’s responsibilities will include editing Saint Vincent’s in-house academic journal (Conversatio) and organizing conferences, reading groups, panels and speakers. In the role, he recently organized an event to host author Elise Ann Allen for the American release of her latest work, “Pope Leo XIV: The Biography.” The book is the first substantive biography of the new pope and has drawn significant attention in Catholic and mainstream media circles.
He also hopes to spearhead fresh initiatives in the future as he settles into the Chair, including strengthening partnerships with the Dioceses of Greensburg and Pittsburgh for undergraduate students.
“We’ll pay attention to the needs of Saint Vincent, our Church, our community, and above all, our students,” Briola said.
The theologian has dozens of articles and essays in scholarly and popular publications to his credit. Briola’s 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.
“I really do love theology,” Briola said, “and I love the opportunity to learn about my faith in a deeper way and share the fruits of that learning with others.”
His second book, “Ora et Labora in Our Common Home: A Benedictine Invitation to Care for Creation,” is due out in summer 2026. Beyond that, Briola’s research continues to focus on how the Catholic theological tradition can inform our present day.
“I’m very interested in how faith relates to contemporary culture, whether that be the ecological crisis, artificial intelligence or the polarization that marks both our world and Church,” said Briola. “Those are the sorts of questions that are in the back of my mind as I’m reading the rich array of sources that comprise our Catholic, Benedictine tradition.”
His first book, “The Eucharistic Vision of Laudato Si’: Praise, Conversion, and Integral Ecology,” was published in 2023 by The Catholic University of America Press.
Briola initially attended Saint Vincent College intent on becoming a high school math teacher. He quickly developed a deep love for theology, encouraged by professors both past and present, including Dr. Christopher McMahon, a professor of theology, and the late Rev. Nathan J. Munsch, O.S.B., who taught theology and Latin at both Saint Vincent College and Seminary for more than 20 years.
Briola’s son is named after Fr. Munsch, and Briola and his wife, Dr. Catherine Petrany, in 2021 helped establish the Rev. Nathan J. Munsch, O.S.B., Scholarship. Petrany is an associate professor of theology and the Boniface Wimmer Endowed Chair in Monastic Studies. The award annually recognizes academic achievement, humility and character, pastoral commitment and financial need for a junior theology major.
“[Fr. Munsch] was someone who really witnessed to the vocation of theological learning, and that left a lasting impact on me on this Benedictine campus in which faith so thoroughly suffuses and permeates campus,” Briola said. “I’ve been fortunate to find a community of discourse and friendship at Saint Vincent that gives me a strong foundation to do this theological work and to do it with confidence. Much of my writing is rooted in my experiences on campus, in the classrooms and comments from my students. … I have a real commitment that my theological work serves the Church and informs the next generation of leadership in both the Church and the world.”
About the Roundtable of Scholars
Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., founder of Saint Vincent Archabbey, studied at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, an institution that was home to a roundtable of European professors whose positions were endowed by Bavarian King Ludwig I. The Endowed Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture is part of Saint Vincent College’s own Roundtable of Scholars: expert professors serving in faculty positions endowed by the financial commitments of alumni and friends.
These endowed faculty chairs work to promote and enhance collaboration in their scholarship and research across the College’s academic community while also preparing students for successful careers and lives of purpose and meaning.
