Rev. Gerard T. Broccolo, 87, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and former pastor of Ascension Parish in Oak Park, died on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. Born on June 14, 1939, in Chicago, he attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein. Afterward, he was selected to pursue theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome during the Second Vatican Council, followed by graduate studies in liturgy at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy of St. Anselm, also in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on Dec. 16, 1964, by Most Rev. Francis F. Reh in Rome, and he celebrated his first solemn Mass on Dec. 17 of the same year at St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
In 1991, after serving as pastor at Ascension Parish in Oak Park, he moved to Pittsburgh to work with the Sisters of Mercy to make their health-care system a better witness to the good news of Vatican II. In 1997, he was invited to move to the corporate headquarters of Catholic Health Initiatives in Denver, Colorado, where he was a resource for ministry formation for the Office of Personnel Services and served as a consultant on liturgy. He retired in 2006.
Remembered as a teacher and a great theologian, he was the author of Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood (1972), as well as numerous articles for Chicago Liturgy Training Publication and other periodicals.
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich will celebrate the funeral Mass on Friday, Oct. 2 at 4 p.m. at St. Francis Xavier Parish, 124 N. Spring Avenue in La Grange. Interment will be private.