Greg Boyle

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend

| name = Greg Boyle

| honorific_suffix = SJ

| image = Greg Boyle at Durfee Foundation.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Boyle speaks at the Durfee Foundation in 2011

| awards = Presidential Medal of Freedom (2024)

| birth_name = Gregory Joseph Boyle

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|05|19|mf=y}}[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127010471 "Priest Fights Gangs With 'Boundless Compassion'"] Interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air conducted May 19, 2010, broadcast May 20, 2010; the birthday was mentioned in the audio only. Retrieved 2010-05-20.

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Priest

| education = BA, Gonzaga University; MA, Loyola Marymount University; M.Div., Weston School of Theology; S.T.M., Jesuit School of Theology

}}

Gregory Joseph Boyle (born May 19, 1954) is an American Catholic priest of the Jesuit order. He is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the world's largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program, and former pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles.

Early life and education

Boyle was born in Los Angeles,{{Cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Homeboy-Industries-Founder-Gregory-Boyle-S-J-4235006.php |title=Homeboy Industries Founder, Gregory Boyle, S.J., to Speak at Otis College of Art and Design - SFGate |access-date=2013-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130519093205/http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Homeboy-Industries-Founder-Gregory-Boyle-S-J-4235006.php |archive-date=2013-05-19 |url-status=dead }} and is one of eight siblings born to Kathleen and Bernie Boyle. He attended Loyola High School and, upon graduating in 1972, entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Boyle was ordained a priest in 1984.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2019-12-05/gregory-boyle-barking-to-the-choir-book-club|title=Father Gregory Boyle has an ambitious plan to expand Homeboy Industries|last=Wolk|first=Martin|date=2019-12-05|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-07}}

He holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, a master's degree in English from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from the Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Master of Sacred Theology degree from the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, California.

Early career

At the conclusion of his theology studies, Boyle spent a year living and working with Christian base communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia.{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Terry |title=Priest Responds To Gang Members' 'Lethal Absence Of Hope' With Jobs, And Love |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/11/13/563734736/priest-responds-to-gang-members-lethal-absence-of-hope-with-jobs-and-love |work=Fresh Air |publisher=NPR |date=November 13, 2017 |quote=Well, I was ordained a priest in '84, and then I went to Bolivia to learn Spanish, really. And then it just turned me inside out. I was - it's what you would call being evangelized by the poor. I just said, I want to cast my lot with the poorest folks I can find. And it felt to me the fullness of where my life had led me to that point.}} Upon his return in 1986, he was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission Church, a Jesuit parish in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles that was then the poorest Catholic church in the city.{{cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Dean E. |title=Father Boyle Bids Farewell to Homeboys |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-27-me-4365-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 27, 1992}} At the time, the church sat between two large public housing projects and amid the territories of eight gangs.{{cite news |last1=Katz |first1=Jesse |title=Painfully, the Priest of the Projects Leaves the Gangs He Loves |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-06-ti-5397-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=August 6, 1992}}{{Cite web |title=Issue 019 – Street Psalms |url=https://streetpsalms.org/issue-019/ |access-date=2023-11-14 |language=en-US}} Referred to as the "decade of death" in Los Angeles between 1988-1998, there were close to a thousand people per year killed in Los Angeles from gang related crime.

Homeboy Industries

By 1988, in an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Boyle, alongside parish and community members, began to develop positive opportunities for them, including establishing an alternative school and a day care program, and seeking out legitimate employment, calling this initial effort Jobs for a Future.{{Cite web|title=Homeboy Industries Records, University Archives, UCLA|url=http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8z09r1mw}}

In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Jobs for a Future and Proyecto Pastoral, a community organizing project begun at the parish, launched their first social enterprise business, Homeboy Bakery. Initial funding for the bakery was donated by the late film producer Ray Stark.{{Cite web |last=Newman |first=Melinda |date=2013-12-04 |title=Meet the Company Creating Jobs for Former Gang Members |url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/meet-the-company-creating-jobs-for-former-gang-members/229399 |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=Entrepreneur |language=en}} In the ensuing years, the success of the bakery created the groundwork for additional social enterprise businesses, leading Jobs for a Future to become an independent nonprofit organization, Homeboy Industries.

Homeboy Industries is the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21712032-what-can-be-learned-prisoners-tattoos-statistical-analysis-art|title=A statistical analysis of the art on convicts' bodies|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2016-12-28}} Homeboy offers an

"exit ramp" for those stuck in a cycle of violence and incarceration. The organization's holistic approach, with free services and programs, supports around 10,000 men and women a year as they work to overcome their pasts, re-imagine their futures, and break the inter-generational cycles of gang violence. Therapeutic and educational offerings (e.g., case management, counseling, and classes), practical services (e.g., tattoo removal, work readiness, and legal assistance), and job training-focused business (e.g., Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café, and Homeboy Silkscreen & Embroidery) provide healing alternatives to gang life while creating safer and healthier communities.[http://www.homeboyindustries.org/life-at-homeboy/father-greg Father Gregory Boyle profile], homeboyindustries.org; accessed April 25, 2018.

Board membership

Boyle serves as a member of the National Gang Center Advisory Board. He is also a member of the advisory board for the Loyola Law School Center for Juvenile Law and Policy in Los Angeles.{{Cite web |title=Greg Boyle - Guest Presenters |url=https://calvin.edu/directory/series/greg-boyle |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Calvin University |language=en}}

Published works

Father Greg & the Homeboys: The Extraordinary Journey of Father Greg Boyle and His Work With the Latino Gangs of East L.A., 1995, Hyperion Books, 978-0786860890
Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, 2010, Free Press, 978-1439153024
Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, 2017, Simon & Schuster, 978-1476726151
Creating a Culture of Tenderness: Embracing Our Kinship with All of Life, 2019, Sounds True Inc, 978-1683643326
The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness, 2021, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 978-1982128326
Forgive Everyone Everything, 2022, Loyola Press, 978-0829450248

Awards

Boyle has received the Civic Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce,{{cite news |last1=Lin |first1=Joanna |title=L.A. civic medal of honor awarded |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-30-me-chamber-honor30-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 30, 2009 |quote=Previous medal recipients include Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries; former Los Angeles Mayor Richard O. Riordan and his wife, Nancy Daly Riordan; philanthropist Eli Board; and Warren Christopher, former U.S. secretary of state.}} the California Peace Prize granted by the California Wellness Foundation, the Lifetime Achievement Award from MALDEF, and the James Irvine Foundation’s Leadership Award.{{cite web |title=Father Gregory Boyle |url=http://www.californiamuseum.org/inductee/father-gregory-boyle |website=California Museum |access-date=16 January 2019}}

Boyle was named the 2007 Humanitarian of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine.{{cite web |title=Food Awards, Part I: The Bon Appetit Awards |url=https://sf.eater.com/2007/9/19/6812925/food-awards-part-i-the-bon-appetit-awards |website=Eater SF |date=September 19, 2007}}

Boyle was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in December 2011.

In 2014, Boyle was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Whittier College.{{Cite web|url=https://www.whittier.edu/alumni/poetnation/honorary|title=Honorary Degrees {{!}} Whittier College|website=www.whittier.edu|access-date=2019-12-06}}

He was named the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation, a national culinary-arts organization.{{cite news|last1=Rodell|first1=Besha|title=Homeboy Industries Founder to Receive James Beard Humanitarian of the Year Award|url=http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/homeboy-industries-founder-to-receive-james-beard-humanitarian-of-the-year-award-6536347|access-date=February 12, 2018|date=January 28, 2016|ref=LA Weekly}}

Boyle was selected to receive the Laetare Medal in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society in March 2017.{{cite news|title=University names Fr. Gregory Boyle as 2017 Laetare Medal recipient |newspaper=The Observer|date=March 27, 2017|url=http://ndsmcobserver.com/2017/03/2017-laetare-medal-recipient}}

In 2024, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work.{{Cite news |last=Vives |first=Ruben |date=2024-05-03 |title=Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-03/father-greg-boyle-of-homebody-industries-to-receive-presidential-medal-of-freedom |access-date=2024-05-04 |language=en-US}}

References

External links

{{Official website|https://www.homeboyindustries.org/fatherg/}}
[https://www.pbs.org/video/father-greg-boyle-q1ttg1/ PBS Tell Me More: Father Greg Boyle]

Category:1954 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American Jesuits

Category:21st-century American Jesuits

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:Gonzaga University alumni

Category:American homelessness activists

Category:Activists from Los Angeles

Category:American housing rights activists

Category:Loyola Marymount University alumni

Category:Boston College School of Theology and Ministry alumni

Category:Catholics from California