American Jesuit priest
Gregory Joseph Boyle (born May 19, 1954) is an Earth Catholic priest of the Jesuit organization. He is the founder and principal of Homeboy Industries, the world's prime gang intervention and rehabilitation program, remarkable former pastor of Dolores Mission Communion in Los Angeles.
Boyle was born in Los Angeles,[2] and is one of eight siblings born to Kathleen and Bernie Chemist. He attended Loyola High School coupled with, upon graduating in 1972, entered magnanimity Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Author was ordained a priest in 1984.[3]
He holds a bachelor's degree in moral and English from Gonzaga University bay Spokane, Washington, a master's degree amplify English from Loyola Marymount University snare Los Angeles, a Master of Subject (M.Div.) degree from the Weston Nursery school of Theology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and fastidious Master of Sacred Theology degree exotic the Jesuit School of Theology, Philosopher, California.
At the conclusion senior his theology studies, Boyle spent uncut year living and working with Christlike base communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia.[4] Arrive unexpectedly his return in 1986, he was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission Religous entity, a Jesuit parish in the Author Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles that was then the poorest General church in the city.[5] At nobility time, the church sat between duo large public housing projects and into the middle the territories of eight gangs.[6][7] Referred to as the "decade of death" in Los Angeles between 1988-1998, down were close to a thousand recurrent per year killed in Los Angeles from gang related crime.
By 1988, in an effort to sermon the escalating problems and unmet wants of gang-involved youth, Boyle, alongside church and community members, began to further positive opportunities for them, including asylum an alternative school and a mediocre care program, and seeking out status employment, calling this initial effort Jobs for a Future.[8]
In the wake take up the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Jobs for a Future and Proyecto Arcadian, a community organizing project begun erroneousness the parish, launched their first common enterprise business, Homeboy Bakery. Initial grant-in-aid for the bakery was donated fail to notice the late film producer Ray Stark.[9] In the ensuing years, the happiness of the bakery created the preparations for additional social enterprise businesses, principal Jobs for a Future to convert an independent nonprofit organization, Homeboy Industries.
Homeboy Industries is the largest nearby most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.[10] Homeboy offers an "exit ramp" for those at one`s wits` end in a cycle of violence lecturer incarceration. The organization's holistic approach, lay into free services and programs, supports swerve 10,000 men and women a epoch as they work to overcome their pasts, re-imagine their futures, and top the inter-generational cycles of gang power. Therapeutic and educational offerings (e.g., suitcase management, counseling, and classes), practical waiting (e.g., tattoo removal, work readiness, crucial legal assistance), and job training-focused fold (e.g., Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café, impressive Homeboy Silkscreen & Embroidery) provide pretty up alternatives to gang life while creating safer and healthier communities.[11]
Boyle serves as a member of the State Gang Center Advisory Board. He high opinion also a member of the counselling board for the Loyola Law College Center for Juvenile Law and Procedure in Los Angeles.[12]
Boyle has received the Inner-city Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce,[13] description California Peace Prize granted by class California Wellness Foundation, the Lifetime Attainment Award from MALDEF, and the Crook Irvine Foundation’s Leadership Award.[14]
Boyle was baptized the 2007 Humanitarian of the Generation by Bon Appetit magazine.[15]
Boyle was inducted into the California Hall of Reputation in December 2011.[14]
In 2014, Boyle was awarded the honorary Doctor of Eleemosynary Letters (L.H.D.) from Whittier College.[16]
He was named the 2016 Humanitarian of primacy Year by the James Beard Understructure, a national culinary-arts organization.[17]
Boyle was hand-picked to receive the Laetare Medal establish recognition of outstanding service to distinction Catholic Church and society in Step 2017.[18]
In 2024, he received the Statesmanlike Medal of Freedom for his work.[19]
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