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Gerard T. Broccolo OBITUARY

Gerard T. (Jerry) Broccolo was born in Chicago, IL on June 14, 1939. On July 4, 1939, he was baptized as a member of God’s holy people at Holy Rosary Parish in Chicago. Yearly, he celebrated this event as the foundation of his life and ministry in the Church.

He spent his high school years at Quigley Preparatory Seminary, the Chicago minor seminary high school, and did his philosophy studies at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, IL. In 1961, Jerry was chosen from his seminary classmates in Chicago to do theology studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome with a residence at the North American College. His four years of preparation for priesthood coincided with the sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

Ordination to the priesthood took place at St Peter’s Basilica in December, 1964. Graduation from the Gregorian took place in the summer of the following year. Time back home in Chicago was brief, as Jerry was chosen for graduate studies in liturgy at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy of St. Anselm in Rome. This finished in 1970 with a dissertation on the prophetic role of the lay people in the eucharistic assembly.

These studies, especially new thinking and practice in liturgy from the documents of the recent Council, were the foundation for a teaching career at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary (1968-1972). The classroom expanded to a host of events and programs in the Archdiocese that profited from Jerry’s expertise in liturgy and spirituality.

In 1991, Jerry found that his gifts filled a need in Catholic hospitals and health care systems. He moved from Chicago to Pittsburgh, working with the Mercy Sisters in developing mission and vision directives to make their health care system a better witness to the good news of the Second Vatican Council. He thrived in the work and in 1997 was invited to a larger responsibility with a move to the corporate headquarters of Catholic Health Initiatives in Denver, CO where he has resided until his recent death.

Jerry died peacefully at home on Monday August 10, 2026 at 87 years of age. He is preceded in death by his father, John Broccolo, his mother, Raepheal Broccolo (Ziccarelli), his dear brother John Carmen Broccolo, and sister, Sr. Mary Therese Broccolo, SSND. A funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be held in Chicago on Friday, October 2, 2026, at 4pm at St. Francis Xavier Parish in LaGrange, IL. The Mass will be Live streamed as Jerry has many friends residing in Colorado. He will be interred with his brother John at the Broccolo Family mausoleum in Mount Carmel Cemetery at a later date.

Jerry is remembered with immense affection by a wide circle of friends.