The Chills at Will Podcast

Episode 88 with Father Greg Boyle, S.J., Founder and Director of Homeboy Industries, the World‘s Largest Gang-Intervention and Rehabilitation Program


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Episode 88 Notes and Links to Father Greg Boyle’s Work 
 
 
 
      On Episode 88 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Father Greg Boyle, S.J., founder and director of Homeboy Industries. The two discuss Father’s growing up in Los Angeles, his formative days in the Jesuit order, his life-changing time in Bolivia, and the breathtakingly-inspiring work he has done in the almost 40 years that he has worked at Dolores Mission Church and Homeboy Industries. The two discuss Father’s transcendent books, Tattoos on the Heart, Barking to the Choir, and his newest stunner, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.
 
 
       A native Angeleno and Jesuit priest, from 1986 to 1992, Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, 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 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 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 Fathemembers in a range of social enterprises, as well as 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. His book, Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, was published in 2017. 
He has received the California Peace Prize and 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. Currently, he serves as a committee member of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Economic and Job Recovery Task Force as a response to COVID-19.
Last week, his latest book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness came out with Simon & Schuster. 
 
Support and Learn about Homeboy Industries!
 
Father Greg’s Story 
 
Buy G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles (All proceeds go to Homeboy Industries!) 
 
Buy Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (All proceeds go to Homeboy Industries!) 
 
Buy Barking to the Choir: The Power of the Radical Kinship (All proceeds go to Homeboy Industries!) 
 
Buy The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness (All proceeds go to Homeboy Industries!)
 
Support the Incredible Community of Dolores Mission Parish! 
 
At about 2:05, Father Greg talks about how Homeboy Industries is doing in the midst of COVID, including how it has pivoted to working with HOPE Ministries, how inequality has been exacerbated since COVID
 
At about 7:45, Father Greg talks about his childhood in LA, calling his upbringing and his family  “out of a Norman Rockwell painting,” with big families all over his block, altar serving and Mass, and other “glorious” experiences like riding bikes all throughout a downtown LA that was “a ghost town”
 
At about 12:10, Father gives background on his admiration for the Jesuits growing up, including the legendary activist Father Daniel Berrigan and other smart and joyful Jesuits who inspired him
 
At about 17:05, Father describes how his time in Bolivia “ruined [him]” and how his time at Dolores Mission began, becoming the youngest pastor in the history of the 
 
At about 18:45, Father shares some beautiful anecdotes about transformative experiences in Cochabamba and surrounding areas in Bolivia
 
At about 22:45, Father
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