Tattoos on the Heart: A Conversation with Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J.

Shannon Lecture Series presents Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J.

"Our common human hospitality longs to find room for those who are left out. It’s just who we are if allowed to foster something different, something more greatly resembling what God had in mind. Perhaps together, we can teach each other how to bear the beams of love, persons becoming persons, right before our eyes.”

Jesuit priest, author, speaker, and world-renowned expert in gang intervention, Gregory J. Boyle is the founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California. From 1986 to 1992, Fr. Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church, then the poorest Catholic parish in the city, located between two large public housing projects and the territories of numerous gangs. There he and parish and community members started what would eventually become Homeboy Industries, now the largest, most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re­entry program in the world. Homeboy trains and employs former gang members in a range of social enterprises, as well as provides critical services to more than 10,000 people who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life.

The author of the 2010 New York Times bestselling book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, Fr. Boyle is the subject of Academy Award-winner Freida Lee Mock’s 2012 documentary G­-Dog. A recipient of the California Peace Prize, Boyle was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, named a Champion of Change by the White House, and awarded the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year award by the James Beard Foundation.

More about Father Boyle

Father G and the Homeboys, a documentary about Boyle's transformative work with tough gang members, will be shown on campus twice in February. Boyle is giving two different talks on campus in March. See more about the Boyle events at Nazareth.

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