When death row convicts in Oklahoma take their last breath, this priest shows up to pray

As pastor of the Church of St. Benedict in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Brooks does not want these lives to be forgotten. He told Oklahoma Watch that his faith, his training, and his mentor taught him that “all lives are sacred, even those who have taken the lives of others.” 

Fr. Brooks began this ministry when his mentor, Fr. David Brooks (no relation), who was well-known for this ministry, could no longer do it. But it is not something he likes to do. 

Brooks deeply cares about victims, too — those whose lives were taken by the people he prays for outside the penitentiary. He has presided over funerals of murder victims and comforted loved ones. And in the book of prayers, verses, and hymns that he and his team use during their vigils at executions, there is also a row of labels with the names of prayer of both victim and perpetrator.

Despite the fact that Fr. Brooks wishes there was no need to travel to Big Mac to pray for death row inmates who are meeting their end, his work will continue. The wrinkled leather calendar he carried currently lists another 22 executions that the state is planning over the next two years. 

*Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.