Father Gregory Boyle SJ

Jesuit Father Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights from 1986 to 1992. Dolores Mission was the poorest 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. 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 members in a range of social enterprises, and provides critical services to thousands of men and women seeking better lives

Father Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller, “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.” His second book, “Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship,” was published in 2017. And his new and third book is “The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.”

He received the California Peace Prize and was 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. In 2020, he served as a committee member of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Economic and Job Recovery Task Force as a response to COVID-19 crisis. In the same year, Homeboy Industries was the recipient of the Hilton Humanitarian Prize validating 32 years of Father Boyle’s vision and work.