In a world increasingly marked by division and discord, Jesuit priest Father Gregory Boyle offers a transformative vision of community and compassion. Over the past thirty years, Fr. Boyle has transformed tens of thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. The program runs on two unwavering principles: We are all inherently good (no exceptions) and we belong to each other (no exceptions). Fr. Boyle believes that these two ideas allow all of us to cultivate a new way of seeing the world. Rather than the tribalism that excludes and punishes, this new narrative proposes a village that cherishes. With Homeboy Industries as a backdrop, this talk will explore the power of love to transform the disunity that currently keeps us from each other.
Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest, is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. Founded in 1988, Homeboy Industries employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises, as well as provides critical services to thousands of individuals who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Fr. Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights from 1986 to 1992. At that time, Dolores Mission was the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles that also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city.
Fr. Boyle witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community during the so-called "decade of death" that began in the late 1980s and peaked at 1,000 gang-related killings in 1992. In the face of law enforcement tactics and criminal justice policies of suppression and mass incarceration as the means to end gang violence, he along with parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. This commitment led to the founding of Homeboy Industries in 1988.
