Podcasts about father boyle

Gregory Boyle is a beloved Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in Los Angeles. He's also a New York Times–bestselling author. His new book is called Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times. (It may sound soft and saccharine—but it's not.) Father Boyle explains why he so deeply believes two things: One, that everyone is unshakably good. And two, that everyone belongs to us. He talks about the difference between hope and optimism, and forgiveness and mercy. And why the moral quest has never kept us moral. It's just kept us from each other. He also talks about what prohibits us from making progress, how to get underneath a complex issue, and his way of holding a container in which someone else can feel their wholeness. For the show notes and to support Father Boyle's work, head over to my Substack. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's guest is Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest, founder of Homeboy Industries, and author of the new book Cherished Belonging. In this episode, he shares stories and spiritual lessons from 40 years of working with Homeboy industries. Father Boyle's Recommendations - Ordinary Mysticism by Mirabai Starr - Somehow by Anne Lamott - Falling Upward by Richard Rohr - ⁠The Healing Path⁠ by James Finley - Turning to the Mystics with James Finley (podcast) Shelf Talkers is a podcast from⁠⁠⁠⁠ Village Well Books & Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠ in downtown Culver City, CA. Each episode, we interview authors on their books, their process, and their favorite reads. New episodes are released every other Wednesday. If you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at ⁠podcast@villagewell.com⁠. If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please consider leaving us a review!

Father Greg Boyle joins Rainn Wilson to delve into how spirituality and unshakable goodness can address the urgent crises facing today's society. They explore themes of tenderness, forgiveness, and the transformative power of viewing others through a lens of compassion. Father Boyle shares compelling insights from his work with gang members, illustrating how a re-imagined approach to divinity can lead to personal and societal healing. This discussion is not just about theology; it's about applying spiritual truths to enhance our human experience and solve real-world problems. Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program in the world, based in Los Angeles. Known for his compassionate approach to working with former gang members, he has dedicated his life to providing support, job training, and community for those seeking a way out of gang life. Boyle is also a celebrated author and speaker, often sharing his insights on kinship, social justice, and the power of unconditional love. His work has inspired countless individuals and has significantly impacted efforts to reduce gang violence and promote healing in communities. Thank you to our sponsors! HOKA: https://bit.ly/HokaSoulBoom LMNT: http://drinklmnt.com/SoulBoom Pique Tea: (15% off!): https://piquelife.com/SOUL Waking Up app (1st month FREE!): https://wakingup.com/soulboom Fetzer Institute: https://fetzer.org/ Sign up for our newsletter! https://soulboom.substack.com SUBSCRIBE to Soul Boom!! https://bit.ly/Subscribe2SoulBoom Watch our Clips: https://bit.ly/SoulBoomCLIPS Watch WISDOM DUMP: https://bit.ly/WISDOMDUMP Follow us! Instagram: http://instagram.com/soulboom TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@soulboom Sponsor Soul Boom: partnerships@voicingchange.media Work with Soul Boom: business@soulboom.com Send Fan Creations, Questions, Comments: hello@soulboom.com Produced by: Kartik Chainani Executive Produced by: Ford Bowers, Samah Tokmachi Spring Green Films Production Supervisor: Mike O'Brien Voicing Change Media Theme Music by: Marcos Moscat

In an era marked by division and rising mental health challenges, Fr. Greg Boyle's voice is one we need to hear now more than ever. On this episode of the Cracking Open podcast, I am honored to speak with Fr. Boyle, a man whose work, books, and mission have inspired me for years.Father Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the world's largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Fr. Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights from 1986 to 1992. Dolores Mission was the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles and had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city.  He had a front-row seat to the devastating impact of gang violence on his community during the so-called “decade of death” that began in the late 1980s, peaking at 1,000 gang-related killings in 1992.  Law enforcement deployed harsh police tactics and the criminal justice system rolled out policies of suppression and mass incarceration as the primary response to the increased gang violence. But where others saw only criminals, Father Boyle saw people in need of help. So his parish and community members decided to implement a radically different approach – to 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, as well as provides critical services to thousands of individuals who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life. Whether joining their 18-month employment and re-entry program or seeking discreet services such as tattoo removal or substance abuse resources, their clients are embraced by a community of kinship and offered a variety of free wraparound services to facilitate healing and growth. In this episode, we discuss Fr. Boyle's journey to becoming a priest, the development of Homeboy Industries, and his core principles: “Everybody's unshakably good, no exceptions,” and “We belong to each other, no exceptions.”  We also explore the teachings of Jesus, and what Fr. Greg shares is the “marrow of the gospel” emphasizing inclusion, nonviolence, unconditional kindness, and compassion.Fr. Boyle speaks of these concepts in his 2010 New York Times bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, followed by Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship (2017) and The Whole Language: The Power ofExtravagant Tenderness (2021). Recently he debuted Forgive Everyone Everything, an anthology of writings accompanied by Fabian Debora's artwork. He has received the California Peace Prize and has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, President Obama named Fr. Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame's 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldesthonor given to American Catholics. Homeboy Industries was the recipient of the 2020 Hilton Humanitarian Prize, validating 32 years of Fr. Greg Boyle's vision and work by the organization for over three decades. And in May 2024, Fr. Greg was a recipient of The Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Biden.Our heartfelt conversation reveals that what everyone seeks is a home – not just a physical space but a place where they are seen, and valued, and where judgment is left at the door.Love, MollyLearn more about Father Greg Boyle and his work with Homeboy Industries hereFollow Homeboy Industries on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

“Only the soul that ventilates the world with tenderness has any chance of changing the world.”Those are the words of Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. If you're not familiar with Father Boyle or his remarkable collection of books, watch this 11-minute video of him addressing the students of Notre Dame in 2017.  As Stephanie Bai of The Atlantic wrote recently, “Boyle's singular gift is his ability to see—and communicate—the best of humanity in those who are often considered the worst of it.”Incivility at work is an intensifying reality. It can get the better of us and bring out the worst in us. This week, practice “ventilating your soul with tenderness” and work to create spaces that foster civil conversation and muscle building. I think you'll find the whole team gets stronger as a result.This week's episode comes from the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights directly to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you'll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward (01:13) - Civility at Work (05:40) - Sponsor: As a Chief of Staff

Is it possible to reform those that fell wayward? Can gang members, if treated with dignity and tenderness over punishment and incarceration, be transformed into loving human beings? And what fundamental principles can we adopt to move society, from a culture of judgment and denunciation, to mutual kinship and appreciation?Find out from Father Gregory Boyle SJ, a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, as he reveals his extraordinary journey of mass human transformation and why serving at the margins is powerful and replenishing, exclusively in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast.Father Gregory Boyle SJ is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, offering an “exit ramp” for those stuck in a cycle of violence and incarceration. In the early 1990s, Father Boyle served as the 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. Having witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community, Father Boyle and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. For his service to humanity, Father Boyle has received the California Peace Prize and has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, President Obama named Father Boyle a Champion of Change. Father Boyle is also the author of several books including Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, and the New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.In this episode, Father Boyle reveals:- Why our quest for morality only fuels division and polarization- A radical approach to transforming anyone, even gang members, into loving human beings- Two fundamental principles for moving society from a culture of judgment and denunciation to mutual kinship and appreciation

We deal with difficult people over holiday meals, at work, and online. This guest says there is only one answer.Father Gregory Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House named Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame's 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics. He is the author of The Whole Language, Tattoos on the Heart, and Barking to the Choir. In this episode we talk about:How Homeboy Industries began 34 years agoBoyle's practices for working with stress What he means when he says you have to put death in its placeMotivating people through joy rather than admonitionHow to catch ourselves when we're about to demonize or be judgmental How to set boundariesHow to dole out consequences without closing the doors to anybodyAnd, Father Boyle's expansive and inclusive notion of GodSign up for Dan's weekly newsletter hereFollow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTokTen Percent Happier online bookstoreSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelOur favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular EpisodesFull Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/gregory-boyle-rerunSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download Episode 65 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | RSS | More IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Fr. Greg Boyle, director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, CA. They discuss Fr. Greg's journey into being a Jesuit priest who serves gang members and the mission of Homeboy Industries. Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, welcoming thousands through our doors each year.  Homeboy is centered in its principles that “everyone is good (no exceptions)” and “we belong to each other (no exceptions.)” Fr. Greg shared how the Gospel of Jesus Christ motivates him to build a community of “cherished belonging” that welcomes and honors the wholeness of each person who is encountered.  Sister Julia and Fr. Greg explore how Christians go to the margins to be changed, not to reach people or succeed, but try to be helpful. Sister Julia asks about the tension of running a successful nonprofit and being faithful to the Gospel call to be on the margins of society. They also get into the value of storytelling for moving minds and hearts, the importance of having healthy images of God and what Church and holiness mean. ABOUT THE GUEST Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and native Angeleno. From 1986 to 1992 Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles in a neighborhood with the most gang activity in the city.  In 1988 Father Boyle, along with parish and community members, started what would become Homeboy Industries. Homeboy employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises, and provides critical services to thousands of men and women who walk through its doors every year.  Father Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion; 2017's Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship; and 2021's The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness. 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. https://homeboyindustries.org/ MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.  Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans. Email us at messyjesusbusiness@gmail.com BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness Twitter: @messyjesusbiz Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/messyjesusbusiness SUPPORT US: https://www.patreon.com/messyjesusbusiness

Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, an intervention program that builds job, life, and relational skills with former gang members. Known for his bestselling book Tattoos on the Heart, Boyle tells stories of shared life that provoke laughter as often as tears. Homeboy Industries has spawned more than 250 partnerships with social enterprises around the globe. Father Boyle travels widely and speaks on the importance of meeting violence with humanity.

Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, Father Greg Boyle, guides us through the Homeboy Way - a life full of love, clarity, and unshakable goodness.More on Father Greg:Father Greg Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world.Each year over 10,000 former gang members and previously incarcerated people come through Homeboy Industries' doors where they are given hope, training, and support to redirect their lives and become contributing members of our community.Father Boyle is a recipient of the California Peace Prize, has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame, and was named a “Champion of Change” by President Obama in 2014. He is also the author of three acclaimed books, including his 2010 New York Times bestseller, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.Father Boyle is a rare example of someone who embodies altruism in its purest form – he is an emblem for hope, compassion, kinship, and the power of second chances. I hope this conversation leaves you feeling more connected to the humanity in each of us, and inspired to lift others up in your community as well.-----You can also watch this - and every - conversation on our YouTube channel.Connect with us on our Instagram.For more information and shownotes from every episode, head to findingmastery.net.-----Please support our partners!We're able to keep growing and creating content for YOU because of their support. We believe in their mission and would appreciate you supporting them in return!!To take advantage of deals from our partners, head to http://www.findingmastery.net/partners where you'll find all discount links and codes mentioned in the podcast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you haven't heard of Father Greg Boyle, let us introduce you: a Jesuit priest who has a touch of Santa Claus in his affect, Greg Boyle has collaborated with thousands of former gang members to build thriving businesses and communities of radical acceptance in East LA. He is a man who is sure that love is the answer to every question and has lived a life that offers him daily proof. Following my conversation with Father Boyle, I sat down with a researcher and social scientist named Christian Miller, a philosophy professor from Wake Forest, to talk about his work around ethics and character. Please enjoy this very special conversation. (Replay)

I'm excited to have Father Gregory Boyle and Fabian Debora on the podcast. Both are with Homeboy Industries. Father Boyle is the Founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention program in the world. He is a wonderful communicator and his books have been New York Times bestsellers. This book, Forgive... The post Gregory Boyle SJ & Fabian Debora – episode 335 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

Gil Rendle says in the intro that this conversation with Father Greg Boyle is “one of the richest conversations I've ever been in.” How grateful we are to have recorded this beautiful and rich back and forth between Gil, Rev. Lisa Greenwood, Father Boyle and Rev. Justin Coleman! Father Boyle's approach to gang intervention rehabilitation and re-entry at his organization Homeboy Industries is not really about providing services, although they do provide holistic services from education to tattoo removal. The real heart of the work is relationship and creating a culture of kinship, tenderness, and joy. Boyle returns again and again to the heart of God and the heart of Jesus, inviting us again and again to embrace our own belovedness and everyone else's belovedness.   In this conversation… Gil shares the difference between the work of improving and the work of creating (01:06) The short game of trying experiments and the long game of deep institutional work (04:39) Father Boyle's vocational journey that led him to start Homeboy Industries (16:41) Providing services vs being in relationship (22:35) The theology that guides Father Boyle (31:58) When there is so much grief and pain, how do you not get caught up in a constant cycle of desolation? (36:54) Creating a culture of the Gospel (42:03) Why Father Boyle says “Gang members have taught me everything of value.” (50:41)   QUOTES “We're always getting ahead of ourselves, right? Just about tomorrow or lamenting what I did yesterday. Ouch. Why did I say that? And as opposed to staying anchored in the present moment. I think that's where the joy is.” -Father Boyle [27:41] “Don't just look at the services. Look at the language that's being used. Look at the approach towards the other person.” -Rev. Coleman [48:54]   Father Greg Boyle's bio Gregory Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House named Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame's 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics. He is the acclaimed author of Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir.  The Whole Language is his third book, and all net proceeds go to Homeboy Industries.    Rev. Justin Coleman's bio Justin grew up in Texas, and attended Southern Methodist University, graduating in 2000 with a major in religious studies.  He, too, was highly active in SMU's Wesley Foundation, and served as Associate Pastor at SMU's Wesley Foundation from 2001 to 2003 as he began seminary studies at SMU's Perkins School of Theology.  Justin transferred to Duke Divinity School in 2003 and graduated with a Master of Divinity in 2005. Justin's first clergy appointment was to University UMC, as an intern in 2004 and then as Associate Pastor from 2005 to 2007.  In 2007, Justin was called back to the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, where he is an elder, and was appointed Associate Pastor at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas.  For six years from 2008 to 2014, Justin served as the Executive and Lead Pastor of the Gethsemane Campus of St. Luke's Church and led it through a remarkable period of growth in ministry and service to its community.  From 2014 to June 2017 Justin served as the Chief Ministry Officer of the United Methodist Publishing House in Nashville, Tennessee.  During this time, he has also continued to frequently offer lectures, sermons, and lead worship.   RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS Read Gil Rendle's paper “Jacob's Bones” for free off our TMF website here. Find out more about Homeboy Industries here. Father Greg Boyle's bestselling book is Tattoos on the Heart, his newest book is The Whole Language. All proceeds go to Homeboy Industries. This podcast is brought to you by the Leadership Ministry team at TMF and Wesleyan Investive. Leadership Ministry connects diverse, high-capacity leaders in conversations and environments that create a network of courage, learning, and innovation in order to help the church lean into its God-appointed mission. Subscribe to our Leadership Ministry emails here. We send emails about each episode and include additional related resources related to the episode's topic. We know your inbox is inundated these days, we aim to send you content that is inspiring, innovative, and impactful for your life and ministry. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts / iTunes?

The idea of loving people no matter what— no matter how obnoxious or unacceptable their behavior is can sound simultaneously treacly and downright impossible. But today's guest Father Gregory Boyle talks about the practicality of this idea by showing how the concept of loving no matter what can be used as a tool— not to condone bad behavior but to help see people as doing their best, no matter how unskillfully. Father Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest who founded a remarkable organization called Homeboy Industries, which is the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world. He has a new book out called, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness. In this episode we talk about:How Homeboy Industries began 34 years agoBoyle's practices for working with stress What he means when he says you have to put death in its placeMotivating people through joy rather than admonitionHow to catch yourself when you're about to demonize or be judgmentalHow to set boundariesHow to dole out consequences without closing the doors to anybodyAnd we talk about Father Boyle's quite expansive and inclusive notion of GodContent warnings: There are mentions of sensitive topics including, sexual trauma, violence, drug abuse and domestic abuse. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/father-gregory-boyle-486See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest today, Fr. Gregory Boyle, is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. A native of Los Angeles and a Jesuit priest, Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles, which 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 1000 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. Fr. Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. And his new book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness, was published by Avid Reader Press in 2021.

If you haven't heard of Father Greg Boyle, let us introduce you: a Jesuit priest who has a touch of Santa Claus in his affect, Greg Boyle has collaborated with thousands of former gang members to build thriving businesses and communities of radical acceptance in East LA. He is a man who is sure that love is the answer to every question and has lived a life that offers him daily proof. Following my conversation with Father Boyle, I sat down with a researcher and social scientist named Christian Miller, a philosophy professor from Wake Forest, to talk about his work around ethics and character. Please enjoy this very special conversation.

We can always use stories of redemption. Ira Glass says the best story form is the one used in sermons: stories with lessons. Father GREGORY BOYLE has made a point of collecting uniquely powerful stories of life and death, and his work has supplied him with more of those than anyone should know. As of 2010, he had buried 168 of his homies, and filled his first book TATTOOS ON THE HEART with their stories. I read it cover to cover on a plane flight and cried at least a dozen times. Father Boyle's compassion is boundless. Our conversation also includes LUIS PEREZ, one of the senior staff at Homeboy.

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 and Pete talk about Father's earliest days at Dolores Mission, especially the 1988-1998 “Decade of Death,” with much of this chronicled in Celeste Fremon's G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles   At about 29:20, Pete and Father discuss the incredible women who have done such incredible things at Dolores Mission Parish   At about 30:20, Pete asks Father about how he finds rest while being in charge of such an important and bustling sets of organizations; Father cites the incredible Homies and how everyone “has keys to the place”   At about 32:50, Pete recounts an example of Father's incredible sense of calm in the face of pressure   At about 34:00, Father responds to Pete's question about Father's experience that has led him to often say and write that “no hopeful kid has ever joined a gang”   At about 35:50, Pete notes some themes from Father's books, starting with ideas of guilt and shame that accompanies great trauma, as well as ideas of victims and victimizers and how “elastic our hearts are”   At about 39:10, Father talks about ideas of redemption and “becoming”   At about 39:40, Father disavows the idea of him “transforming lives”   At about 41:00, Father talks about the “secret sauce” of Homeboy Industries   At about 42:00, Father explains his idea that he doesn't want “volunteers” who plan to “reach” those they work with   At about 42:50, Father and Pete reflect on an incredible story about Carlos from Father's Barking to the Choir and the importance of attention and personalized affection   At about 46:00, Father talks about the ACE index and its huge impact on adolescents and adults, as well as how a failure to appreciate and treat trauma leads to societal divisions    At about 48:20, Father and Pete discuss the “slow work of God,” as described in Father's books   At about 51:00, the two discuss love and kinship and their intricate relationship and their importance in the books; they recount a telling story about the church and its sense of community    At about 52:45, Pete wonders how Father gets former and current enemies to work together   At about 56:30, Father and Pete reflect on a few heartbreaking, beautiful, and telling stories from his books You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for the next episode, a conversation with Luke Epplin, whose writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the New Yorker Page-Turner, The Washington Post, GQ, Slate, Salon, The Daily Beast, among others, and he has appeared in such places as NPR's “Weekend Edition,“  The New York Times, the MLB Network, and ESPN. He is the author of Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball about Bob Feller, Satchel Paige, and the Cleveland Indians of the 1940s. The episode will air on November 2.

If you attended a Jesuit university or high school in the last decade, you were most likely at some point assigned Father Greg Boyle's first book (and a New York Times best-seller—so, you didn't need to have attended a Jesuit school to encounter it) Tattoos on the Heart. Father Boyle is a Jesuit priest, the founder of Homeboy Industries and the author of the a new book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness, which is scheduled to be released this fall. Ashley and Zac talk to Father Boyle about how Covid and the pandemic restrictions affected his sense of identity and Homeboy Industries' work, what he's learned looking back on his years in ministry, and why he is becoming more mystical as he gets older. To support Jesuitical and access all of America's content, get a digital subscription today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A photographer, a Civil Rights Lawyer, and an Episcopal Priest walk into a bar… This week’s show is no joke, though. Our guest, the Reverend Dr. Marcia Ledford, Esquire IS a Civil Rights lawyer, a photographer, and an Episcopal Priest. Stay tuned for a great conversation that encompases journeys both personal and cultural, the third rails of politics and religion, and where all those things come together in Dr. Marcia’s ongoing work for social justice. Neither one of your podcasts hosts grew up in a regular religious tradition. And we are wary of the dark power that organized religion can wield to oppress and repress. Even the Buddhists in Myanmar are killing people in the name of. But we can’t deny that the US Civil Rights movement was championed by religious leaders. Nor that “church ladies” in Georgia helped swing the US Senate. Nor that a Jesuit priest, Father Boyle, created Homeboy Industries in LA to help young community members de-escalate violence and develop alternatives to gang life. So… we are really excited to have the Rev. Dr. Marcia Ledford present the case for a progressive and engaged Christianity. We hope you listeners are, too. Guest Bio: The Rev. Dr. Marcia Ledford founded Political Theology Matters, LLC, to help the people develop a personal mission grounded in theology for greater social justice. Marcia teaches, speaks, and preaches about political theology in varied forums and maintains a very intriguing blog. For Dr. Ledford's complete bio, links to her social media and website, and curated book suggestions view the show notes at: https://www.here-together.us/pod/how-to-live-for-justice --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/here-together/message

There are some people who see need and, rather than feeling stuck by the magnitude of the world's pain, they move toward it. Today's guest is one of those kinds of people. Father Greg Boyle has worked with former gang members in Los Angeles for over thirty years with Homeboy Industries, which employs and trains former gang members and offers free services to facilitate healing. In this conversation, Kate and Father Boyle discuss how living at the margins turns us inside out, how crucial hope is to healing, and why we should all embrace his understanding of kinship.For show notes, transcripts, and discussion questions: https://katebowler.com/podcasts/greg-boyle-the-case-for-hope/Sign up for our free daily Lenten reflections at https://katebowler.com/lent To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are some people who see need and, rather than feeling stuck by the magnitude of the world's pain, they move toward it. Today's guest is one of those kinds of people. Father Greg Boyle has worked with former gang members in Los Angeles for over thirty years with Homeboy Industries, which employs and trains former gang members and offers free services to facilitate healing. In this conversation, Kate and Father Boyle discuss how living at the margins turns us inside out, how crucial hope is to healing, and why we should all embrace his understanding of kinship. For show notes, transcripts, and discussion questions: https://katebowler.com/podcasts/greg-boyle-the-case-for-hope/ Sign up for our free daily Lenten reflections at https://katebowler.com/lent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For todays show we have Father Boyle Gregory with his speech about "Stand Proud" Thank you for listening, continue to subscribe to my channel for more episode daily

In this heartwarming and hilarious episode you'll get an inside look at Gang Life. Juli shares the amazing story of Josh, a Royals gang member and ex convict, who turned his life around! The glitter girls discuss, Radical Compassion, an idea put forth by Father Greg Boyle. Father Boyle heads up Homeboy Industries, the largest gang and ex-convict rehabilitation center in the world. Mother Theresa said the worlds problems stem from the fact that we've forgotten that we belong to each other. Christina and Juli belong to you and you belong to Christina and Juli!Practice Radical Compassion Today!For more details about Karen- Listen to Episode 21 Join the Glitter Gang at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2202063973423563Follow Christina and Juli on IG at: https://www.instagram.com/glitterdisorder/

Today on episode 039 of The Quarantine Tapes, Paul Holdengräber is joined by Father Greg Boyle. They discuss the importance of kinship and an equity-based economy.Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world.A Jesuit priest, from 1986 to 1992 Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church, 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, Father Boyle, and his 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, 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 new 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.

On the tenth entry of our See It to Be It podcast series, Amy C. Waninger chats with Dr. José I. Rodríguez, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, about how he got involved in academia and what about it appealed to him, and he graciously shares the biggest surprise he had arriving into the industry. José also names several programs that are available for persons of color to help them feel supported and connected within the higher education space. Connect with José on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and check out his website by clicking here.Learn more about the programs José mentioned, BUILD, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, and RISE.Find out how the CDC suggests you wash your hands by clicking here.Help food banks respond to COVID-19. Learn more at FeedingAmerica.org.Visit our website.TRANSCRIPTAmy: Hello, Dr. J. How are you?José: Good, how are you doing?Amy: Doing great. How's the weather in California today?José: Well, today the weather is good. It seems we have weather. [laughs]Amy: Oh. That's unusual for you guys. [laughs]José: Right, right. It is highly unusual, but we're happy. We need the weather.Amy: So I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit--so you work in the education industry. You're a professor at Long Beach State. And I was wondering if you could tell me, how did you get into academia, or higher education, and what about it appealed to you? Did you always want to do this or did you kind of happen into it?José: Right, thank you. That is a great question. I got into it because I--you know, the pretty typical story that you have going to college, you know, your family tells you that that's the thing to do, and--at least in my family--you have to either be a doctor, a lawyer, or some other profession of that ilk, and I thought, "Well, I don't want to be a lawyer. I don't want to be a doctor. I'm gonna be an engineer." I started out as an engineering major, and I just got tired of doing math if I can be perfectly frank. By the time I finished a third semester of calculus I was done. [laughs] Amy: Fair enough.José: Yeah, exactly. You know how that goes. So I took this GE class in communication, and we sat around, and we were studying small group communication, and we would get together in groups and we would discuss topics and we would share ideas and we would have conversations in a college classroom--which I thought was revolutionary, because up until that point I really didn't have experience with communication in the classroom, and I just fell in love with it. I thought, "Wow, this is really cool. I think that this might be my thing," and the next semester I switched my major to communications studies. I started working with one of my favorite professors, who became a mentor, and one thing just led to another. So it wasn't like I had this grand vision of, "Gosh, yes, I've wanted to be a professor since I was 4 years old." That wasn't me. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. It was quite confusing. And I just stumbled onto what I do. I developed a nice relationship with some colleagues at the university. I got into a good master's program, and then just created a trajectory, really through networking, which I know is dear to your heart, and that networking panned out in some really interesting ways. So it was a lot of networking and things that I really didn't plan a priori but just seemed to work out in the process of doing and connecting with people, and I really loved it, and I still love it, and I think the idea of just connecting with people, connecting with people through conversations, connecting with people through teaching, through doing workshops, retreats, things of that sort, I find that very rewarding, very much, you know, aligned with the things that I value, and I find working with people to be, you know, useful. You see the results of it right away if you impact somebody's life. If somebody is moved by something that you say, you see those results very quickly just by looking into people's eyes. Somebody's getting an idea or somebody's asking a question or somebody's emailing you and saying, "Oh, my gosh, that was great. That was fantastic," and I think I really enjoy that almost-instant feedback in interactions through teaching, through doing workshops and things of that sort.Amy: That's fantastic. So what I heard in that was that you grew up with a value around education--and a lot like I was, right? I went into my college programs not knowing, like, what does that mean, what am I gonna be when I grow up, and sort of through the role of a mentor and sort of happenstance you were able to channel this value of education into something that's giving forward to new students and is true to your values and maybe not so much math. [laughs]José: [laughs] It's true to my values, that's for sure. Yeah, giving forward, you know, connecting with people, making a point or having a conversation with somebody that wasn't there before, right? So you enter into conversation or you enter into dialogue with someone, and in moments that come seemingly from nowhere you develop a line of thought or a line of argument or a conversation that is really meaningful, enriched, and it almost seems like magic is happening, that you're co-creating or co-inventing with someone, and that's really kind of fun and engaging and becoming more and more rare as we lead mediated lives, and I find that really rewarding. Amy: Yeah, I want to come back to that idea of mediated lives in just a moment, but can you tell me first - what's been the biggest surprise to you? So you moved down this path of becoming a professor, and then you got there. So what surprised you now that you're on the other side of that particular journey? What didn't you expect--good or bad--about your industry?José: Yeah, the thing that surprised me the most was the variety of activities that one needs to perform as a college faculty member. so I got into it because I like to teach and I like the interaction with students, I like being in the classroom, I like getting into discussions, I like lecturing, I like having that experience where you share a concept or an idea and it makes sense to somebody. They get it. Their eyes light up, and all of a sudden they are impacted in some positive ways. I really like that, and I thought that that was the majority of the show, but no, that's not the majority. In fact, that's just one third. There's this whole thing about publishing and being on committees and having service obligations, and I found that to be surprising and extremely time-consuming. And not that it's bad. It's just typically not my thing. I think in most areas of academia people have their strengths or their weaknesses or their preferences, and my preference is on the teaching side of things. Service and academic publishing are great and I've done some of that, but that isn't really where my passion lies. So that was a bit surprising at the beginning and at times a bit daunting, just because it's time-consuming. It's a lot of work, especially in publishing and getting your work out there and the process of revision and working with reviewers. All of that can be very time-consuming, and so that's a challenge, yeah.Amy: So I remember being in college, and I can tell you that my favorite professors were the ones that were there because they enjoyed teaching, not the ones that were there because they enjoyed the publishing aspect. They were usually not the best ones in class. I usually learned a little less from them because they tended not to care as much about making connections so much as, you know, they were worried about the publications and that sort of thing. So on behalf of your students I want to thank you for sticking with it and being there for them. I think that's so important.José: Thank you. I hear that. I hear that from students every once in a while, at times. You know, some faculty are very blessed. They won, like, a genetic and I guess personality lottery, right? They're very good at teaching, they're really good at publishing, and they're very good at doing the whole service thing, but I think most people have a strength in a particular area and everything else is okay but isn't as, I guess, you know, dominant in their professional life. So yeah, I think your point is well-taken, and at times it's a struggle for faculty who really are into the whole publishing game to teach as effectively as possible. And don't get me wrong, that's not everyone. I think the vast majority of faculty do a great job, and sometimes people who are very well-published are actually very good teachers because they're kind of on the cutting edge of their field and they are really excited about it and they bring that excitement to the classroom, and that's fantastic. But in my experience, that's fairly rare.Amy: Yeah, absolutely. So if somebody's not in academia now, if that's something they aspire to, maybe they're an undergrad or even a grad student at this point and they're thinking, you know, "Maybe this is for me." Where would they go to learn more?José: One of the places to learn more is through a mentor or a colleague or somebody who's already quote-unquote arrived. If you find a professor, a colleague, who is really a mentor, that's really the best way to find out if the career is for you. Usually when you go to grad school, especially if you're getting a Ph.D, you're gonna have a committee of people that are working with you as you finish your dissertation, and you usually have a faculty mentor or a faculty advisor, and that person typically is the type of person that guides you, that, you know, writes your letters of recommendation, that has you on their research team, and that is the primary way that you get socialized into the process of becoming a professor. Another thing that people tend to do is go to conferences and, you know, networking events where once, twice or three times a year there are national conferences, local conferences, international conferences, where graduate students go and meet people across the nation and really create a growing body of colleagues across the globe or across the United States and find opportunities to work. In fact, most people I believe, still today, get hired that way. You hire people that you know or you hire people that have worked with people that you know. In my experience, that probably happens 60 to 70% of the time. And again, just like in almost any other industry I would assume, networking becomes very critical. It becomes a part of your professional practice, and it's a great way to find out if the profession is right for you.Amy: So you said something interesting, and I know that--I'm betting that you knew I would pick up on this. You said that people typically hire people that they know and networking is important, and since the audience, for at least part of this interview--to use Living Corporate's terminology--black and brown professionals who maybe feel like they're outside of the in group and in academia, right? If we hire who we know, that tends to self-perpetuate the demographics of a department or of a school or of a profession, and so what resources are available to young people of color or to professionals of color in your area that help them maybe navigate those waters in a way that someone like me wouldn't have to do? What advice can you give them to kind of overcome that feeling of otherness?José: The feeling is a challenge, no doubt. No doubt. What's really exciting is that there's more and more programs for persons of colors and individuals from historically marginalized groups, programs like BUILD and the Mellon Mays Research Fellowship. There's another one called RISE, and we have those types of programs on campus--and they're national, they're all over the country, and essentially those are programs designed to help students from minority groups form a relationship with a faculty mentor in a larger community that is designed to help them navigate the murky waters of their professional development. They would start their undergraduate program with BUILD or with Mellon Mays or with the RISE program, let's say, perhaps when they're, like, a sophomore in college, and they would be assigned to a faculty mentor, to a research team. They would participate in conferences and get mentoring advice, and they would get help putting together a statement of purpose, a resume, a [?], and have publications with faculty members or, let's say, conference papers on their own as a part of a research team. All of those things are not only very possible, but I see them happening on campus every day. It's part of--what I do is I train faculty mentors on how to create conversations that are empathic and nurturing and holistic so that people know the kind of language that might be best, the kinds of things to say, how things might be interpreted, and we try to create scenarios where we're asked to engage in everyday conversations in a way that is much more inclusive and less divisive. So that's my best answer. Find one of these programs on your campus and join. Put in your application and take it from there. That's one of the best ways to do it.Amy: Yeah, that's fantastic. Thank you. Sometimes we just don't know what we don't know, and if the target demographic for these organizations, if the target age or, you know, the target year is sophomore year, that's very early for a lot of students even where they want to head or, you know, what they might want to do. I know I was, like, mid-senior year and then all of a sudden panicked because what I thought was gonna do wasn't gonna happen, right? So I think it's great that if we can engage students earlier in these kinds of programs so that they can explore what out there, and specifically what's out there for them in terms of help so that they can overcome some of the affinity bias or some of the self-perpetuaing selection processes that maybe existing faculty have, so thank you for that.José: Oh, you're welcome. That's an excellent question.Amy: So what other recommendations do you have for students, and particularly students of color, who want to explore careers in academia? Are there books? Are there articles? Are there websites? Are there other resources around that they should take a look at?José: Well, there are plenty of resources, and again I would just go back to the resources that are available in some of these programs. Obviously all of these programs, BUILD, the Mellon Mays Fellowship, the RISE program and many others that I don't have off the top of my head, are available obviously online. So if you Google the Mellon Mays Fellowship, if you Google BUILD, you will see a major website or local website for your university or for locations across the country and then be able to, you know, gather the information that you need, not only on the website but find out what campus near you, maybe even your own campus, has that program. I know that the BUILD community goes out to junior colleges and does some pretty heavy recruiting to let students know that these resources are available. So BUILD in particular, I'm familiar with them because I've worked with them for the past couple of years, and I know that a huge part of their initiative is recruiting. So not just waiting for students to come to them, but really allowing students to know that the resources are available by going out into the community.Amy: Excellent, thank you. So you had said before that you have kind of this passion for creating connectedness and that you discovered this passion when you took a general ed class in communications, and so can you tell me more about where that passion comes from or what do you think was awakened in you in that moment?José: Yeah. One of the things that was awakened is just the power of solidarity, the power of coming together through dialogue to find what we have in common as opposed to what we have in difference, and that whole idea, you know, it's kind of a nice idea and it sounds like a really nice phrase, but to have that as an experience is life-changing, where you go "Gosh, here I come into a conversation where I thought there was all these differences or I'm not getting along with people or I'm different or there's something wrong with me," and then I go into a room and I have a conversation with a variety of strangers, and all of a sudden there's this feeling of connectedness, there's this feeling that I belong, there's this feeling that I can contribute, there's this feeling of, you know, kinship, right? Father Greg Boyle, who's out here in California, he runs the #1 gang rehabilitation center in the United States--Amy: Homeboy Enterprises.José: Yeah, there you go. Amy: He is a national treasure. He is a hero.José: He is amazing, yes. Father Boyle. He has this great line where he says, you know, "Imagine the circle of kinship where no one is outside that circle," right? And I love that metaphor, the circle of kinship, and I believe that we do that through many means, but primarily through conversation, through discussion, through the process of sharing messages with each other. I see him do this. You know, he has his daily message of the day and he, you know, films himself having a little talk, and, you know, this impacts people not only in his community but all over the country, and he goes and gives talks, and I can see that a part of their process is really this constant conversation of bringing people in, of making them a part of the community, of using a language, a discourse of unity, of connectedness, of how we come together really as an extended family and then bring people into that family, help them feel included so that we can heal what has been broken through this new experience of solidarity, right? And the power to do that through messages, through language, through metaphor, is I think just such a gift, such a beautiful experience to have with people, and I've discovered that that was, like, a rare thing, you know, that I saw in college back at the time. I'd go, "Wow, to be able to study this process of creating messages and using words to bring people together," the power of story for example, telling compelling stories that people can relate to about our challenges and where we came from and how we are similar through the narratives that we construct about our life history, our different positionality, the different intersections of race, class, nationality, sexual orientation that then help us be relatable, human, understandable, vulnerable, right? Those things I think get navigated primarily through the exchange of messages, through the exchange of linguistic, you know, discoursive thought, and those kinds of things I find just very rewarding.Amy: That's fantastic. So for those who don't know, Homeboy Enterprises is--it's a lot of things, but primarily what they do is they take former gang members and teach them job skills, marketable job skills, and then they create businesses, right, with the people in their program. So they might create a whole t-shirt company that's comprised--the employees of which are maybe even rival gang members all working together in sort of this rehabilitative space to overcome the past and to contribute to the economy and to really heal through work and through shared goals.José: Exactly, exactly. I think they have, you know, four or five businesses. They have a cafe. They have a bakery and quite a wide variety of businesses, and about a year ago one of the organizations on campus, the [?] Center for Ethical Leadership, gave Father Boyle an award, and he came--he was invited to come and, you know, accept the award. Unfortunately he was under the weather at the time and I didn't have a chance to meet him at that time, but one of the Homeboys came instead, and Miguel, who was in charge of marketing, just delivered this speech that was stunning. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. It was just powerful, yeah. So very moving work.Amy: That's amazing, and all of that through storytelling and connectedness.José: Exactly, and it was all really through the power of language. A guy up on a stage with a microphone telling his story.Amy: That's beautiful. So in the time that we have left, I would like your perspective on code switching and on cultural dexterity. So you and I had a brief conversation about this before we started recording, and I just want to know, what do those terms mean to you? I know that you use the term code switching to talk about when you're flexing between English language communication and Spanish language communication, but what does that mean to you? What's the feeling behind that term?José: So code switching for me is, you know, experientally that capacity to go from speaking English to speaking Spanish, or then from speaking Spanish to speaking English, and being able to go back and forth from those linguistic traditions, and that's how I tend to use the term code switching, in a very basic, organic, lay type of meaning, right? So nothing too intellectual or crazy cerebral, very simple, and I mentioned that to you in our conversation because I did that in the TED talk. One of the things I wanted to do in preparing for that was to be able to code switch from English to Spanish and Spanish to English, one because I thought that would be really fun, two I hadn't really seen it done before--I'm sure somebody has, but it doesn't happen very often--and also to be able to express through the power of spoken word that capacity to navigate two languages and, by doing that, create a sense of community, reach somebody through an online medium or through the internet or through whatever that message gets sent that says, "Gosh, here's somebody speaking my language," or "Here's somebody code switching," or "Here's somebody kind of going back and forth," and having a moment of identification, and I think through those moments of identification we start to experience solidarity, a sense of unity, a sense that we're not alone, that there's other people out there in the community that are like us, that are human and are willing to put themselves out there and put out a message that can be unifying, can be compassionate, can be empathic and can be, you know, the beginnings of a healing moment, not only for us as individuals but for communities at large. So for me that's my best answer with code switching. I want to just switch to the other topic that you were asking about, which is cultural dexterity, and cultural dexterity comes from a body of academic work looking at cross-cultural or inter-cultural communication, advancing the idea that we need to adapt or to adjust as we shift from one cultural orientation to another, and being able to do that is to have cultural dexterity, to be able to navigate not just my culture of origin or my tradition but to be able to seamlessly adapt to different discourse communities, right, without, you know, excessive effort or, you know, stumbling around, and that capacity I think is a skill that, you know, we really need, not only in our world but in our country, to be able to communicate with people that I perceive are different from me. I think we all need to have that as a skill set, because that is a primary human experience. Difference is a primary human experience. Whenever we meet the other, we are in the experience of difference. And how do we bridge that difference? How do I navigate that conversation with someone that is different from me? For some people that's very easy, for others it's very hard, and cultural dexterity is a concept that tries to get at the ways that we do that. And, you know, as you might imagine, one of the simplest ways to do that is, again, navigating conversations in such a way that we find what we have in common as opposed to what we have in difference. And we do this very organically all the time. When we meet somebody for the first time we say, "Hey, how are you doing? What's your name? Where are you from? What do you do? What do you like? Where'd you go to school?" And we ask all these questions to try to gather enough information to find something that we have in common that we can then zero in on to develop a dialogue back and forth around an issue that we have in common. So if I speak with you and I know that you're interested in networking and diversity, well, then I'm also interested in that, and I go, "Gosh, that's a topic of conversation that we can bridge whatever divisions we might have or whatever difference we might have, because diversity and networking are such a thing that we have in common that the other stuff just is not all that important or is kind of trivial or isn't really central to this passion that we bring to diversity and networking and things of that ilk," and I think that cultural dexterity is an area of study, again, that tries to teach those skills strategically.Amy: Excellent. So I want to commend you on your bilingual TED talk, and the reason I say that is because I think that there's--I think in the current political climate with some of the news stories that I've seen about people who have been harassed or assaulted for speaking languages other than English in public spaces, to me, for you to speak Spanish from a stage is an act of profound resistance against a culture that seeks to punish difference, and I can only imagine what that meant to someone in the audience who, you know, is a first-generation immigrant or, you know, for whom Spanish is their primary language at home, but they have to navigate a world that is in many ways alien to them because, you know, the culture seeks to strip them of language. You know, one of the tools of colonialism has been to strip people of their language and to strip people of their culture by forbidding language, and so I commend you for that. I think that's such a profound act of resistance and a profound act of courage and solidarity to do that so publicly and with so much empathy for your audience.José: Thank you. No, I appreciate that. I have got to tell you, that was difficult to do, yes, yes. It is a challenge because, you know, for all the reasons that you're articulating and more. We live in a climate where it's extremely weird to get up on stage and then not only do that but realizing that you're being videotaped and that is going to be launched at some point all over the internet and people are gonna be able to see that, you know, forever, right? So there's this strange feeling of vulnerability that I never really experienced before because, you know, I'm not someone that does TED talks every day. That was my first one. But there was this whole sense of feeling very vulnerable, very open, very, you know, out there, right? Just without a safety net, right? Especially on the day of rehearsal where you see that there's all these lights on you, right? There's just you, the stage, and these massive lights where you can't see the audience because the lighting is so powerful. You know, in order to capture you brilliantly in all the color and the dynamics of, you know, the technical aspects of the filming, there needs to be just massive amounts of lighting, and at first it was just a shock to the system, you know? Rehearsals for me did not go too well. I was very frustrated because I was distracted. I felt very vulnerable. I felt very agitated, because it wasn't something that I had rehearsed before. And then I knew what I was gonna do. I knew what I was gonna get up there and say. And after saying it though, it felt really good, you know? It felt very rewarding. It felt very evocative. It felt transformative. It felt very emotional. There was a couple of times during the performance where I choked up, because I didn't want to go up there and just be safe. I didn't want to go up there and just be very logical. I didn't want to go up there and just say, "Well, you know, I'm gonna talk about my research and these three areas," and be very linear and Aristotelian and academic because I felt that if I did that I would put on a very easy shield and not really be of service, and I just felt called to just, you know, let it ride, and I was happy that I took that risk for sure, so I really appreciate the affirmation.Amy: Absolutely, and as I listen to you I think about--it was almost a coming out, a public coming out, right, where I've seen and I've experienced, you know, being in front of a room and coming out, and it is, it's terrifying. There's nowhere to hide. You know, physically you're probably safe, but tricking your brain into believing that when you're out there on your own, separated from a crowd, right, the spotlight is literally on you and there's absolutely nowhere to hide once those words escape. It can be incredibly freeing, but it can be terrifying as well, and so--you know, and again, given kind of where we are politically and culturally right now, I just think that was incredibly brave and, you know, probably very affirming to the people that were there listening to you.José: Thank you. That tension between terrified and then having an experience of freedom, right, that is the tension that, no question about it, you feel very liberated, but at the same time a feeling of terror, a feeling of excitement, and talk about intersectionality. Intersectionality as an inner experience of multiple intersections of oppressive, liberating energies in the simultaneity of an insane moment, right? Because, you know, how many people have the blessing or the opportunity to get up on a stage and have all the lights on you and deliver a message? It's such a blessing, such a gift, and I wanted to honor that moment, you know? TED has a great line or a great mission to deliver, you know, a message worth spreading, right? That idea, that brand, a message worth spreading, an idea worth spreading, and every time I prepared I wanted to make sure that I was saying something that was worthy of that mission, that was worthy of that statement, that was worthy of that ideal, and in doing that, right, in attempting my best to stay true to those ideals, it was terrifying, it was difficult, it was liberating, and all of that happening simultaneously, like, you feel like your heart's in one place and your mind's in another and your body's going in a different direction and you forget, and then you bring it back and then you don't know how you're gonna be and you can't predict the future, but you know it's gonna be great, but you're not sure, and it's these weird journeys of the heart and the mind and the soul, and you're hoping, "Gosh, once I go through this whole maddening process, I hope I arrive on the other side okay," right? But it's just really what we talk about in kind of classic stories about the leap of faith, right? Taking a leap of faith, taking the hero or the heroine's journey, finding a way to kind of navigate your journey one step a time by claiming your truth as best you can in the moment and allowing wherever you land to be okay.Amy: Love that, yes. And, you know, the leadership lesson in that, about authenticity and vulnerability, I think is not to be overlooked, because certainly as you're stripping away some of that facade and you're, you know, opening yourself up in that way, people are seeing you as a leader in a way that maybe they hadn't before, and they're identifying with you and your story, and they become personally invested then in your success, and I think that that's--I think that's the real gift of leadership in an authentic and vulnerable way is that other people become invested in your success because they sense that you're equally invested in theirs.José: Right, I totally agree. There's this interesting dialectic, right, there's this interesting reciprocal relationship where I think through vulnerability we make connections with the other because we come to understand, at a very evocative, embodied level, our essential humanity. So I'm a human being just like you're a human being, and we're having a moment of solidarity where you might be admiring me, which is great, but I think the bigger gift is that you see yourself, you see the beauty of you in those moments, because in my, as I like to call it "stumbling successfully," I have said something or I have done something that allows you to see what is already beautiful inside you and helps you recognize it in a moment. And then you might project that onto me, which is fine, but hopefully what happens is that you feel empowered, you feel motivated, and then you feel that you want to pay that gift forward by allowing someone in your life to know that they're not alone, that they have value, that they are here with you for a reason, and in dialogue you get to discover what that reason is.Amy: That's beautiful. And if it's okay, we will end there. Thank you so much for this conversation, and thank you for extending your vulnerability to my audience. I appreciate it.José: It's been a pleasure connecting with you. Always, always wonderful to talk to you. Take care.Amy: Thank you.

Fr. Greg Boyle, founder of the largest gang rehabilitation center in the world, discusses the radical power of kinship. "Father G" as he is most commonly referred, shares his own formation journey and calling into vocational ministry. His stories and experiences of finding God in all things are sure to inspire any listener towards a life of radical kinship.  In the face of law enforcement tactics and criminal justice policies of suppression and mass incarceration as the means to end gang violence, Fr. Boyle, his parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. In 1988 he founded what would eventually become Homeboy Industries, a conglomerate of social enterprises employing and training former gang members in a range of vocations, as well as providing critical services to thousands of men and women who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life. Father Greg is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. His 2017 book is the Los Angeles Times-bestseller Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House 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.

This week we did something a little different. We interviewed Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries.  While he is not a grown-up punk kid, he is a grown-up we respect on many levels.  His lifetime commitment to helping people who are in the margins is truly an inspiration.  Big thanks to Father Greg for coming on!  We hope you enjoy this as much as we enjoyed the interview. In the face of law enforcement tactics and criminal justice policies of suppression and mass incarceration as the means to end gang violence, Father Greg 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, as well as provides critical services to thousands of men and women who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life. Father Greg is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. His 2017 book is the Los Angeles Times-bestseller Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House 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. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/adultingwell/support

It was my privilege to have on Love University Podcast the esteemed Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries. Father Boyle has dedicated his life to providing former gang members with the opportunity to transform their lives and give back to the community. Here are some of the profound nuggets of wisdom he offered Love University Listeners: *We Need to Create a Community of Tenderness: This is the highest form of spiritual maturity. When we are tender and kind—even to those who are hurtful—we elevate love from an idea stuck in our heads to a “connective tissue”—a part of our everyday DNA. When do this, we no longer separate the world into “us and “them”—we enter a zone of Exquisite Mutuality, where we inhabit our own nobility and goodness, and encourage others to do the same. Now we see others as part of us, and us as part of them. We are one, and that one is only love. *Higher Love Can Dismantle the Messages of Shame and Disgrace. When we do something wrong or self-harming such as addictions, bad habits, or self-destructive behaviors, we feel shame and disgrace. That shame and disgrace further weakens us and makes us want to repeat the same negative behavior because we don’t think we can do any better (or deserve any better). Higher Love (from God or nature) is what forgives our mistakes and allows us to forgive ourselves with self-compassion. The more self-compassionate we are, the less likely we are to repeat the same self-defeating actions. *Catch People (and Yourself) Doing the Right Thing: Often, we are quick to judge and condemn others (and ourselves) for making a mistake. Although we can learn from mistakes, it is often far better to catch people and ourselves doing the right thing. Praise others and yourself when acting rightly (speaking up against injustice; expressing honesty; saying “No” to a bully). The bottom line: We all want to be loved and appreciated. When we reinforce the good in others (and ourselves), we find the noble divinity within, and this goodness grows and blossoms.   *Narrow Your Focus on Love: It is said that narrow is the road that leads to “life” (peace and love). However, instead of focusing on the narrow (how hard it is to be a highly spiritual person), we need to narrow the focus: Concentrate on loving “being loving.” Many people impatiently wait on outcomes and success, and they become frustrated and disappointed when they don’t get that financial goal (or win that person’s heart). Instead, our focus needs to be on being loving—extending loving energy without expectation. That by itself is enough to bring us peace and joy and attract all the good things we truly need. It’s true: Higher Love can turn woundedness into health, deformity into beauty, and embarrassment into laugher. In the end, this love can help us belong to each other on the Earth and create a spiritual kinship with our fellow human travelers in life—elevating us and leaving the world a little better than when we entered it.

"The minute you can kind of say, wow, the widow, orphan stranger, the folks at the margins, these are my trustworthy guides, I'm going to go there so they can lead me to the kinship. Oh God. Well that's, you've just turned privilege on its head because you're not guiding them or leading them. They're doing that to you." -Father Greg Boyle Father Greg Boyle is the Founder and Executive Director of Homeboy Industries and one of my real life heroes. Originally a Los Angeles secret and now a national treasure, I admire pretty much everything about him and his work. He is a global champion of social justice, a global champion of the divinity in each of us, and a global champion people, in general. He focuses on people who were in gangs and the rehabilitation of that, but larger than that to me, he really cares about the beauty that exists in each and every one of us. So I want to welcome Father Boyle and we want to sell his book, Barking to the Choir: The power of Radical Kinship. Listen in to hear what radical Kinship is, how to get involved with social justice and help your fellow human being. If you’re looking for more inspiration and words of wisdom, then please sign up for my free weekly email newsletter - The Sunday Paper. Visit website mariashriver.com to subscribe.

“Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship” was presented on April 30, 2019, by Gregory Boyle; founder of Homeboy Industries and best-selling author.  Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. A Jesuit priest, from 1986 to 1992 Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church, 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 Los Angeles 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, Father Boyle and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. In this presentation, Gregory Boyle will share how compassion, kindness, and kinship are the tools to fight despair and decrease marginalization.  Through his stories and parables, all will be reminded that no life is less valuable than another.  This program is part of the Dawn Farm Education Series, a FREE, annual education series developed to provide accurate, helpful, hopeful, practical, current information about substance use disorders, recovery, family and related issues.  The Education Series is organized by Dawn Farm, a non-profit community of programs providing a continuum of substance use disorder treatment and recovery support services. For information, please see http://www.dawnfarm.org/programs/education-series. About the presenter: Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, Calif., the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world.  A Jesuit priest, from 1986 to 1992 Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church, 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 Los Angeles 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, Father Boyle 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, 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 2017 book is the Los Angeles Times-bestseller Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship.   He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.  In 2014, the White House 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.  

Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, shares his passion and history of his life's work on this episode of the podcast. Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention and re-entry program in the world and Father Greg's light created it. In the podcast he shares the origin story of Homeboy Industries, why healing and tenderness works and a vision for healing all of our inner cities. Father Greg is truly one of the great inspirations in the world of service and social outreach, his work has touched countless souls. Please check out what Homeboy Industries is all about if you're not familiar with them. He is truly doing the lords work. Sponsored by - The Yoga of Strength - A Hero’s Journey into the Heart of Reality by Andrew Mark Rowe  Father Greg Boyle - 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 members 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 Greg is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. His 2017 book is the Los Angeles Times-bestseller Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House 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.

Erin shares her interview with Father Greg Boyle, acclaimed author, speaker, and founder of Homeboy Industries. Their candid conversation sheds a light on common misconceptions about gang intervention and rehabilitation. Father Boyle's insights and stories will challenge your perceptions about what it means to serve those in the margins and help you understand the trauma that often precedes gang membership. It'll also assist you in dismantling messages of shame so that we can celebrate, not separate, those on their journey to healing. Links and Resources Take a few minutes to fill out the Freedom Writers Podcast Feedback Survey: https://goo.gl/forms/6SwrZyrWDz0RUOWs2 More about Father Boyle: Bio: https://www.homeboyindustries.org/fatherg/ Books: https://amzn.to/2JmrGgn Homeboy Industries: https://www.homeboyindustries.org/why-we-do-it/ https://www.homeboyindustries.org/life-at-homeboy/history/ Questions, stories, reviews? Contact us: podcast@freedomwritersfoundation.org Buy Copies of Freedom Writers Books www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

Jason Wang knows a thing or two about being an underdog. Growing up as an only child of two immigrant parents living through poverty and abuse, he knows all too well the challenges of overcoming obstacles to transform generational legacies of poverty, crime, and violence. I had the great pleasure of meeting him earlier this year at a mentoring night for Defy Ventures, an organization that teaches entrepreneurship to men and women with criminal histories to help "transform their hustle." (Find a volunteer opportunity near you here!) Jason's radiance, joy and contagious positive energy blew me away. And then I heard his powerful comeback story and knew I had to share it with all of you. But first, a little context about what brought me to that mentoring night . . .  In the years since Pivot launched, I have developed a strong desire to work with those who aren’t fortunate enough to pivot by choice, or who are perhaps embarking upon one of the greatest pivot opportunities of their lives: rebuilding after poverty, homelessness, and prison. Earlier this year, I blazed through Defy founder Catherine Hoke’s book, A Second Chance, with an urgency that I couldn’t explain. Simultaneously, I read books on addiction, ADD, and the mind-body stress-disease connection by Dr. Gabor Mate. Next I sought out further reading on our incredibly broken criminal justice system, and read dozens of stories of people who had been wronged or disadvantaged because of their race and economic circumstances in runaway bestsellers like Just Mercy, The Other Wes Moore, The New Jim Crow, and Hillbilly Elegy. I read about Father Gregory Boyle’s inspiring work to employ and empower former gang members in downtown Los Angeles in Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir. Many, if not all, of the people described within the pages experienced unthinkable trauma as children. Drugs and criminal activity were not the problem, they were their attempted solution to the pain of disconnection. Their stories made me cry, and cracked my heart open in a thousand new places. Stories of intense physical, mental, and emotional abuse. One parent’s form of childcare for her son? Putting him in the dryer until she was ready to let him out again. Another’s involved asking her six-year-old to “just kill [himself] already,” for being such a burden, before dropping him off at an orphanage saying she had no clue whose child this was. Or like Jason whose father tried to kill him three times before he was ten years old.  As the authors above illuminate, many of these people never had a true first chance at life, let alone a second. Father Boyle describes as “a compassion that stands in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than in judgment at how they carry it.” It is with this reverence for the resilience of these incredible souls that I bring you Jason's story, and hopefully many more like it moving forward.   Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/podcast/defy-jason-wang. Enjoying the show? Make my week by donating just $1 and episode at Patreon.com/pivot.

In this week's Pulpit To Pew, we discuss radical kinship, understanding through bewilderment, second chances, unconditional love, abiding in faith and the foolishness of following God's wisdom and The Cross. Jesus frequently used confusion and bewilderment as a means of teaching and leading his disciples to repentance and to metanoia. Metanoia is redemption by going beyond the present mind, to get past our fear and disorientation of the "choir" (hint: the choir is us), turning the corner and running into something new. This inner journey of metanoia pushes us to reach a new and extreme kinship with God and those around us. God gave the "whining" and unfaithful Israelites a second chance with a new covenant and 10 words of "Holy" clarity with the 10 Commandments. Jesus's disruptive action of cleansing the temple was a profound reorientation to seeing the nature of God and a new way to worship. Present day Jesuit priest and author of Barking At The Choir - The Power of Radical Kinship, Father Gregory Boyle lives and gives rise to redemptive second chances with his LA Gang Outreach Mission, Homeboy Industries. His community's stories and found connections demonstrate a new model of Church as a community of inclusive kinship, tenderness, and redemption. In a broken and chaotic world, Father Boyle advises for us to focus on the awe of the incredible gifts God has given us and instead of the judgment of others and our existing situations. We should look for the surprising beauty of receiving and giving second chances. By being open to rethinking our status quo and being on the lookout for ways to confound and deconstruct our reality we can be the foolishness of God's wisdom and the weakness of God's power. Confused? It's OK, this is a good thing.   Lectionary: Exodus 20:1-17 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 John 2:13-22   Resources: Homeboy Industries Barking To The Choir Father Gregory Boyle  Dr. Brenee Brown Sermon    

Hey guys - Welcome to Episode 20 of The Daily Cordial!   Today we are talking to, the ultimate champion of the underdog, Reverend Greg Boyle.   Father Boyle is a pastor, activist & renowned speaker. He is also the founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, which is the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.    His list of accolades goes on and on but to name a few…He is the author of the New York Times-bestselling book - Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, which was named one of the Best Books of 2010 by Publishers Weekly. He was the subject of Academy Award winner Freida Lee Mock’s documentary, G-Dog.  He received the California Peace Prize and was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House named Father Boyle a Champion of Change and in 2016 he received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the James Beard Foundation, and this is just to name a few!    I was first exposed to Father Boyle through my friends Andrew & Lydia… who highly recommended his book “Tattoos on the Heart” which is a series of parables from his two decades working with gang members in LA. I read it and knew immediately I needed to find a way to talk to this guy… his message, his journey and his stories were SO inspirational and talking to him was no different..    But before we get to our talk… first a little background on how “Homeboy Industries” came to be…   In 1986 Father Boyle was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission Church in LA, which at the time was the poorest Catholic parish in the city located between two large public housing projects with the highest concentration of gang activity in Los Angeles.    After having buried an ever growing number of young people killed in gang violence, Father Boyle wanted to address the unmet needs of gang-involved youth by developing positive opportunities for them.   In 1992 Father Boyle launched Homeboy Bakery, and ever since, former enemy gang members have worked side by side, learning both business and baking skills together. The success of Homeboy Bakery created the groundwork for a variety of other similar social enterprises under Homeboy Industries.    Each year over 10,000 former gang members from across Los Angeles come through Homeboy Industries’ doors in an effort to make a positive change. Homeboy Industries offers education, therapy, tattoo removal, substance abuse treatment, legal assistance, and job placement services.   Father Boyle is a man who has dedicated his life to helping those in need and more than that he seeks to help people whom most of society has given up on.    In a recent open letter he wrote - “Homeboy Industries seeks to be what the world is ultimately invited to become: a community of kinship, exquisite mutuality, and tenderness. We stand against forgetting that we belong to each other.”   And I think THIS is a message we all need to be reminded of right now. We belong to each other.   In today’s episode we talk about the power of unconditional love, compassion and kinship. And his belief that every human is inherently good.    He tells us: what he believes we are all longing for what’s more powerful than death advice for those grieving what he believes to be the meaning of life and much much more…   If you’re a parent or you’re in a service profession where you’re trying to help others I think this will be a really valuable episode for you. Actually I think if you’re a human being than this episode applies to you.  :)    Enjoy the show! LINKS: Book: Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion http://www.homeboyindustries.org Documentary on Father Boyle and Homeboy Industries: G-Dog DONATE TO HOMEBODY INDUSTRIES!! https://support.homeboyindustries.org/checkout/donation?eid=39383  

Father Boyle discusses the diagnosis and treatment of the social problem of gang violence with inspirational stories from Homeboy Industries.

Aired 04/11/10 Father Boyle has made a point of collecting and telling uniquely powerful stories of life and death, and his work has supplied him with more than anyone should know.He has so far buried 168 of his homies, and fills his first book TATTOOS ON THE HEART with their stories. I read it cover to cover on a plane flight Chicago to LA, and cried at least a dozen times. Boyle's compassion is boundless, his work is courageous, and his example is a profound challenge. Father GREGORY BOYLE was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1982. He received his Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology. Since 1986, Father Gregory has been the pastor of Dolores Mission in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The church sits between two large public housing projects, Pico Gardens and Aliso Village, known for decades as the gang capital of the world. In 1988, Father Boyle began what would become Homeboy Industries, now located in downtown Los Angeles. His first book is TATTOOS ON THE HEART. http://www.homeboy-industries.org/