The crowd laughed, then applauded. Brooks, a bestselling author, former op-ed columnist at The New York Times, and a recurring commentator on PBS NewsHour, was born Jewish.
He said he has been inspired by Catholic social teaching and spoke of its transformative power as well as the power of Christian humanism in an era of dehumanization and modern technocratic culture.
Depression and suicide rates are up, 36% of Americans report feeling lonely much of the time and 45% of high school students report feeling hopeless and despondent a lot of the time, Brooks said.
"So we’ve become sadder, and when you become sadder, you become meaner, because you perceive your sadness as a threat to your existence, and you lash out," he said.
He talked about his sister-in-law, who is a head nurse at a hospital in New Jersey, and how she struggles to keep staff who are burned out and targeted by patient abuse.
Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis both spoke of "the technocratic paradigm," or a creeping dehumanization of culture, Brooks said. "It believes in technological progress while ignoring the spiritual basis of all our institutions, and this threatens universities. ... I imagine it threatens hospitals," Brooks said. "And the answer is Christian humanism. The answer is Catholic social teaching. The answer is personalism."
Illuminating and recognizing
Brooks said that in any group of people, there are two basic types: diminishers and illuminators. "Diminishers make people feel small and unseen, they stereotype and they label, they’re not curious about you, they never ask you a question," he said. "Illuminators, on the other hand, beam their attention upon you."
So how does one engage in mutual recognition? Brooks offered some tips.
1. Gaze at others in a way that shows that you look at them as a person, that they are a priority.
2. Engage in what Pope Francis called "accompaniment," which Brooks described as "an other-centered way of being in a normal circumstance of life. It’s paying attention to: What is that other person going through?"
3. Know how to be a good conversationalist. Brooks said conservation experts told him that people should "treat attention as an on-off switch, not a dimmer." Also be a "loud listener," unafraid to pause and reflect, and don’t try to top a story. Also ask good questions and find the "gem statement," or something deep down to agree on even if there is disagreement about other things.
Witnessing suffering
Brooks mentioned a friend who was suffering from depression, and how he struggled to say and do the right thing for this friend. Brooks found out later that it was best to remain a normal, easygoing friend and to acknowledge the man’s pain and ask him to describe it, because it was so isolating.
Brooks said that when Viktor Frankl, the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, was in a Nazi concentration camp, Frankl questioned other people around him contemplating suicide. "Life has not stopped expecting things of you," Frankl told them. "There are still things you are called to do in this world," including to be a witness to those who are also going through suffering.
Knowing how to witness suffering and accompanying others are among the basic social skills that Brooks believes are the embodiment of how Jesus wants us to be, Brooks said.
Brooks told a story about a girl named Kate, who was hit by a car when she was 14 and suffered a severe head injury. She endured multiple surgeries. As she was recovering months later from one last surgery, several healthcare workers came into the room to visit. "Kate, you wouldn’t remember me, but I was in the attending physician who was in the emergency room when you came in that first day," one said. "Kate, you wouldn’t remember me, but I was the nurse who was on the original operating team when you were brought in," another said. The parade of visitors continued, and the girl’s father asked what was going on.
A nurse told him that for every 10 kids they see with Kate’s injury, nine of them die. "There is only one Kate. We need to come back," said the nurse. "We need to see her, because that is what keeps us coming back to work every day."
Brooks paused as he finished the story, and apologized for tearing up. "That is what mutual recognition is about. That is a life of purpose. That is the life that Jesus wants us to live."