Greg Boyle Explained

Honorific Prefix:The Reverend
Greg Boyle
Honorific Suffix:SJ
Awards:Presidential Medal of Freedom (2024)
Birth Name:Gregory Joseph Boyle
Birth Date:May 19, 1954[1]
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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, S.J. (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,[2] and is one of eight siblings born to Kathleen and Bernie Boyle (both now deceased). He attended Loyola High School and, upon graduating in 1972, entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Boyle was ordained a priest in 1984.[3]

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.[4] 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.[5] At the time, the church sat between two large public housing projects and amid the territories of eight gangs.[6] [7] 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.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12]

Published works

Awards

Boyle has received the Civic Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce,[13] the California Peace Prize granted by the California Wellness Foundation, the Lifetime Achievement Award from MALDEF, and the James Irvine Foundation’s Leadership Award.[14]

Boyle was named the 2007 Humanitarian of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine.[15]

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.[16]

He was named the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation, a national culinary-arts organization.[17]

Boyle was selected to receive the Laetare Medal in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society in March 2017.[18]

In 2024, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work.[19]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127010471 "Priest Fights Gangs With 'Boundless Compassion'"
  2. Web site: Homeboy Industries Founder, Gregory Boyle, S.J., to Speak at Otis College of Art and Design - SFGate . 2013-04-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130519093205/http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Homeboy-Industries-Founder-Gregory-Boyle-S-J-4235006.php . 2013-05-19 . dead .
  3. Web site: Father Gregory Boyle has an ambitious plan to expand Homeboy Industries. Wolk. Martin. 2019-12-05. Los Angeles Times. en-US. 2019-12-07.
  4. News: Gross . Terry . Priest Responds To Gang Members' 'Lethal Absence Of Hope' With Jobs, And Love . Fresh Air . NPR . November 13, 2017 . 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..
  5. News: Murphy . Dean E. . Father Boyle Bids Farewell to Homeboys . Los Angeles Times . July 27, 1992.
  6. News: Katz . Jesse . Painfully, the Priest of the Projects Leaves the Gangs He Loves . Los Angeles Times . August 6, 1992.
  7. Web site: Issue 019 – Street Psalms . 2023-11-14 . en-US.
  8. Web site: Homeboy Industries Records, University Archives, UCLA.
  9. Web site: Newman . Melinda . 2013-12-04 . Meet the Company Creating Jobs for Former Gang Members . 2023-11-14 . Entrepreneur . en.
  10. News: A statistical analysis of the art on convicts' bodies. The Economist. 2016-12-28.
  11. http://www.homeboyindustries.org/life-at-homeboy/father-greg Father Gregory Boyle profile
  12. Web site: Greg Boyle - Guest Presenters . 2023-11-15 . Calvin University . en.
  13. News: Lin . Joanna . L.A. civic medal of honor awarded . Los Angeles Times . January 30, 2009 . 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..
  14. Web site: Father Gregory Boyle . California Museum . 16 January 2019.
  15. Web site: Food Awards, Part I: The Bon Appetit Awards . Eater SF . September 19, 2007.
  16. Web site: Honorary Degrees Whittier College. www.whittier.edu. 2019-12-06.
  17. News: Rodell. Besha. Homeboy Industries Founder to Receive James Beard Humanitarian of the Year Award. February 12, 2018. January 28, 2016. LA Weekly.
  18. News: University names Fr. Gregory Boyle as 2017 Laetare Medal recipient . The Observer. March 27, 2017.
  19. News: Vives . Ruben . 2024-05-03 . Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom . 2024-05-04 . en-US.