Boyle, Father (1954–)

Father Boyle, or Greg Boyle, is a Jesuit priest who has spent the past 20 years working with former gang members in East Los Angeles. He is founder of Homeboy Industries, a gang rehabilitation program that provides employment opportunities for young men and women, primarily Latino/a, who want to leave the dangerous and violent life of street gangs. Former pastor of Delores Mission, Fr. Boyle, or “G” as his homies (ex–gang members) affectionately call him, has dedicated his life to ministering to the modern-day outcasts of contemporary U.S. culture: young, poor, brown men and women who are caught in a seemingly endless cycle of violence and crime.

Father Greg Boyle, left, talks with Edgar Augilar, 22, at the Homeboy Industries headquarters in East Los Angeles on Thursday, November, 23, 2004. Boyle, a Jesuit priest, began working in 1984 with eight neighborhood gangs. Today, his group works with more than 360 gangs across Los Angeles County.

Source: AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian.

A native of Los Angeles, Fr. Boyle attended Loyola High School and was influenced by the liberation theology of the Jesuit community. He was ordained in 1984 and was immediately posted in a small rural Bolivian parish. The challenge of this experience radicalized him, and he describes this as the turning point in his life. After his time in Latin America, he realized [Page 265]that he wanted to work with the poor. In 1986, he was transferred to Dolores Mission, where the 32-year-old priest was confronted with new challenges, for Delores Mission is situated in one of the most dangerous and gang-infested areas of East Los Angeles. Parishioners in the area were at first resistant to this young Anglo priest. In order to gain their favor, Fr. Greg spent countless hours in the community, walking the streets and meeting individuals. Under his leadership, the parish opened a homeless shelter and a day care center.

Fr. Greg began to notice that the gang problem was the center of most of the community's problems. In 1988, he opened a junior high and high school for gang members called “Dolores Mission Alternative.” He also began hiring gang members to work around the church. Fr. Greg grounds his ministry in the gospel message of Jesus' inclusive vision of community that embraces the marginalized and oppressed. He came to understand that poverty is at the root of street gangs' power. Individuals stay in gangs out of necessity, confronted with rejection whenever they attempt to seek employment outside of illegal gang life. Providing jobs for ex–gang members was the starting point of his ministry. His initial outreach to ex–gang members has evolved into a substantial center that includes a job referral program, free tattoo removal, a silk-screening company, a bakery, a graffiti removal service, and a café. In addition to the concrete economic opportunities Fr. Greg facilitates, he also empowers these young men and women by recognizing their full humanity, a subversive act within a society that devalues gang members as hopeless criminals unworthy of opportunities. Through the respect and trust he instills upon thousands of men and women and the economic opportunities he provides them, Fr. Greg is combating the gang problem in Los Angeles one soul at a time.

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