“Love never fails.” These three words shared by Father Greg Boyle at his speaking event at Godmother’s Books in Summerland on Tuesday night could sum up his entire philosophy. It’s the ethos that inspired this Jesuit priest and California Peace Prize recipient to create the world’s largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program, Homeboy Industries.
The force of love propelled Boyle to take on his role as pastor at Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles, a Jesuit parish in Boyle Heights, which at that time was the poorest Catholic church in Los Angeles. Although as Boyle, who holds degrees in Philosophy, English, Theology and Divinity, shared last night though, it’s not just the idea of love that makes change, it’s putting it into action.
“Love has to make its way to your feet so you’re really walking the talk,” he explained. Boyle strapped on his walking shoes back in 1986 at Dolores Mission Church and hasn’t taken them off since. Nestled amid the territories of eight different gangs during what came to be known as the “decade of death” between 1988-1998, where there were close to a thousand people per year killed in Los Angeles from gang related crime, this parish was the perfect place for Boyle to put his love to work.
Under his leadership, the church became a place to develop positive opportunities for gang members and formerly incarcerated people, including establishing an alternative school and a daycare program, as well as by helping people find legitimate employment. After the 1992 L.A. Riots, Boyle and community organizers created Homeboy Bakery, which later became the independent nonprofit organization, Homeboy Industries…