Q&A with Professor Lucas Pollice

By Veronica Ambuul

Editor's Note: Lucas Pollice became the Director of the New Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship for the Diocese of Colorado Springs effective June 1. Prior to being named to his new role, he worked for the Augustine Institute, serving as Professor of Theology and Catechetics, Senior Director of Curriculum, and Director of the master’s degree program in Pastoral Theology. The Herald recently interviewed Pollice to find out more about his background and his career in catechesis and evangelization. 

CCH: Tell us about your background — where you grew up, your family, education, etc.
LP: I’m a native Coloradan who grew up in the northwest part of Denver. I attended Holy Family School for grade school followed by two years at Regis Jesuit High School. I then attended Bishop Machebeuf High School for two years. I graduated from Machebeuf in 1992. 

Growing up, I was very involved in the Church. I was the head altar server at my parish; I really enjoyed that a lot growing up. I think that really kept me close to the Church, the Mass and the Eucharist. So it was a very formative part of my life growing up in the Catholic faith.

CCH: How did you end up studying at Franciscan University of Steubenville?
LP: My original career path was going to be meteorology, which I studied during my first year at Metropolitan State College. A friend of mine went to Steubenville and I went to visit the college my freshman year; I was very curious. I had a pretty extraordinary spiritual experience there — an intense deepening of my faith. And then when I got back to Denver, there literally wasn’t a day for a couple of months when I didn’t run into somebody or something about Steubenville. I went on a Teens Encounter Christ retreat and some of the people running it were from Steubenville.

So I transferred to Franciscan University as a sophomore. It was an extraordinary experience of being richly immersed in the faith. I also met my wife there. We both transferred as sophomores and got married over Christmas break of our senior year. 

CCH: When did you decide to devote your career to catechesis and evangelization?
LP: My real passion was for parish life, particularly catechesis of adults. I took a Theology of the Church class at Steubenville where I got exposed to the documents of the Second Vatican Council. I really appreciated the beautiful renewal that the Holy Spirit brought about through the council, especially the role and mission of the laity to go out and bring Christ and the Gospel to the ordinary places of secular culture. My passion for parish work also came from recognizing just how many adults out there hadn’t been really well catechized — including myself to a certain extent up until that point. 

CCH: Once you left Steubenville, where was your first job?
LP: My first job was as teacher and assistant principal at a small Catholic school in the Diocese of Fort Worth called St. Bernadette Academy. From there, I became director of faith formation at St. Maria Goretti Parish in Arlington, Texas. While working at the parish, I developed a pretty robust religious education program, particularly in the area of adult faith formation and Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). The bishop in Fort Worth then asked me to come to work for the diocese as director of catechumens in 2007. A book that I wrote over a couple of years called “Open Wide the Doors to Christ” was published in 2008. 

CCH: How did your move to the Augustine Institute come about?
LP: I was hired by the Augustine Institute in 2012, and my first job there was to help with the development of the Symbolon program, because the original vision for Symbolon was that it would be used for RCIA. I would go into dioceses to help with training. 

CCH: The Augustine Institute is somewhat unique because it’s run entirely by lay people. What are the benefits of that structure?
LP: One of the benefits is an understanding of the situation of the laity in the modern world — the challenges of the lay faithful, such as marriage and family life. Another benefit is understanding the potential for the laity to do the work of the New Evangelization. There was a lot of freedom to expand the mission and make the investments that that we discerned needed to be done to promote the New Evangelization. That was a real advantage. 

CCH: Even before you were hired by the Diocese of Colorado Springs, you and your family were parishioners in the diocese, correct?
LP: Yes, my wife and I and our six children are members of St. Mark Parish in Highlands Ranch. We’ve got a wonderful community; we’re in the middle of starting a campaign to build a new church. So the plan for now is to remain there.