Father Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world.
A Jesuit priest, Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church from 1986 to 1992, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles that also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city. Father Boyle witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community, which 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, Father Boyle and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. In 1988, they started what would eventually become Homeboy Industries, which employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises and provides critical services to thousands of men and women who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life.
Father Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship was published in 2017. And his third book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness, was published in 2021.
He has received the California Peace Prize and has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, President Obama named Father Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame’s 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics.
A Presentation by Fr Boyle & Student Panel was held on March 20, 2024, at the Loras College Athletic Wellness Center. A book signing hosted by River Lights Bookstore followed at 12:15 p.m.
Event sponsors were the Archbishop Kucera Center for Catholic Intellectual and Spiritual, Andrew P. Studdert Chair of Business Ethics & Crisis Leadership, The Fr. Ray Herman Peace and Justice Center, and Pathway to Participation: Enriching and Deepening Vocation NetVue grant.
The full presentation can be viewed below.
