Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J.

Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J., is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries. Based in Los Angeles, the organization is the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. From 1986 to 1992 Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles, and the one with the highest concentration of gang activity. In the face of law enforcement tactics and criminal justice policies of suppression and mass incarceration as the means to end gang violence, Boyle and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. In 1988 they began what would eventually become Homeboy Industries, which employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises, and provides critical services to thousands of people who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life. Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times bestseller, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, as well as Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, and The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness. Most recently, he authored Forgive Everyone Everything, an anthology of writings accompanied by Fabian Debora’s artwork. Recently, Boyle was a recipient of the 2025 Civic Renewal Award from the Center for Christianity and Public Life. In 2024, Boyle received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joseph Biden. Homeboy Industries was awarded the 2020 Hilton Humanitarian Prize, and Boyle was the recipient of University of Notre Dame’s 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics. In 2014, President Barack Obama named him a Champion of Change. Boyle has also received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.