BIOGRAPHY:
Gregory Boyle, S.J. has used his Catholic faith and education to minister to gang members in Los Angeles, California, for many years. One of eight siblings, Boyle was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1984. He also holds two advanced degrees, one from Loyola Marymount University and one from the Weston School of Theology. Shortly after his ordination, Boyle was sent to work with Christian Base Communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The experience profoundly changed his life. When he returned to the United States and his hometown of Los Angeles, he asked to be placed in the poorest parish and was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission in 1986. Gangs ran rampant in the area, and Father Boyle soon became convinced that even gang members could be "saved" so to speak, if treated non-judgmentally and given opportunities for employment upon leaving their gang and/or returning to civilian life after prison. He created Jobs for a Future in 1988 in the parish which later grew into a multi-pronged approach for combatting gang recruiting and recidivism that included an elementary school and day-care program. In 1992 he helped launch Homeboy Bakery, a business which could provide job training and experience for gang members.
In 1992, Doyle, always a divisive figure in the community, left his position as pastor and spent time as a chaplain at the Islas Marias Penal Colony in Mexico and California's Folsom Prison before returning to Los Angeles. By 2001, Homeboy Bakery had blossomed into several other related businesses and became its own independent nonprofit, Homeboy Industries, including the bakery, a silkscreen workshop, a cafe and catering company, and a merchandise shop under its umbrella. Additionally, the nonprofit provides a charter high school, a tattoo removal studio, anger management courses, graffiti removal program, and women's empowerment workshops as well as several other community services. Many consider Homeboy Industries to be the largest gang intervention program in the country, serving 12,000 gang members annually, and perhaps not coincidentally, Los Angeles's gang-related violence has dropped precipitously since its highs in the 1990s. Boyle is recognized nationally as an expert in youth services and gang intervention and serves as a member of the National Gang Center Advisory Board. He has also won many awards for his service to Los Angeles throughout the years, including the Civic Medal of Honor and the California Peace Prize (twice). Homeboy Industries has been covered by major national publications like the Economist and Psychology Today, as well as several Catholic publications. Community members have also bestowed on him their own honors, giving him the nicknames Father G, FG, and G-Dog. For all his recognition, Boyle has told interviewers that it is hard to ensure the future of Homeboy Industries. For instance, in 2010, Boyle had to lay-off hundreds of staff members, many former gang members, and needed five million dollars to keep the nonprofit solvent. He raised nearly all the money in a matter of months and also hit upon another revenue stream, selling canned Homeboy salsa and packaged tortilla chips at Ralph's grocery stores in Southern California.
Boyle released an anticipated memoir in 2010. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion won many accolades, including being named one of the Best Books of 2010 by Publishers Weekly. "Homilies, tear-jerkers and even bursts of humor from the barrio families and felons he serves are collected in his new book, published in English and Spanish," noted Patt Morrison in an article for the Los Angeles Times. While marketed as a memoir, the book focuses mainly on Boyle's work in Dolores Mission. While profoundly influenced by Boyle's Catholic faith, it was not marketed as a solely Christian work. "Christian publishers all turned it down because of the language," Boyle told Morrison. Critics did not appear to care about a few unsavory words, however. "Boyle ties together incredible stories with important lessons, from the hilarious things that some clients say and do to the young people who start to get back on track, only to be shot and killed," wrote Kristin Peterson in a review contributed to the U.S. Catholic. Aaron McCarroll Gallegos, a contributor to Sojourner magazine also noted the "jaw-dropping stories" and concluded: "Reading this book is a spiritually cleansing experience that won't leave you the same." Several reviewers recognized the faith-based lessons apparent in Boyle's book. In a review for America, J. Peter Nixon stated: " Tattoos on the Heart is a profound work of theology. More powerfully than any treatise, it reveals a God who 'dines with tax collectors and sinners,' and leaves the ninety-nine sheep to find the one who has strayed." In a starred review for Publishers Weekly, a contributor observed Boyle's overcoming the tragic situations he often encountered working with gang members who were the victims or perpetrators (or both) of murder, and concluded that "the joyful tenor of the book remains an astounding literary and spiritual feat."
AWARDS:
California Peace Prize, California Wellness Foundation, 2000, 2004; Humanitarian of the Year Award, Bon Appetit, 2007; Civic Medal of Honor, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, 2008; Irvine Leadership Award, James Irvine Foundation, 2008; Non-Fiction Book Award, Southern California Indie Booksellers Association, 2010; Best Creative Nonfiction Book of the Year, PEN USA, 2011; inducted into California Hall of Fame, 2011.
"Greg Boyle." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2013. Biography In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1000300021/BIC?u=providence_main&sid=BIC&xid=af4b8a9a. Accessed 22 Feb. 2019.