Greg Boyle, S.J.
| Greg Boyle | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Gregory Joseph Boyle May 19, 1954 Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Education | BA, Gonzaga University; MA, Loyola Marymount University; MDiv, Weston School of Theology; S.T.M., Jesuit School of Theology |
Gregory Joseph "Greg" Boyle, S.J., (born May 19, 1954) is an American Jesuit priest. He is the founder and Director of Homeboy Industries and former pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles.
Boyle was born in Los Angeles and is one of eight children born to Kathleen and the late Bernie Boyle. Boyle attended Loyola High School of Los Angeles, and upon graduating in 1972, entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and was ordained a priest in 1984. He holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, a master's degree in English from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, a Master of Divinity degree from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Master of Sacred Theology degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California.
At the conclusion of his theology studies, Boyle spent a year living and working with Christian base communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Upon his return in 1986, he was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission Church, a Jesuit parish in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles that was then the poorest Catholic church in the city. At the time, the church sat between two large public housing projects and amid the territories of numerous gangs.
By 1988, in an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Boyle and parish and community members began to develop positive opportunities for them, including establishing an alternative school and a day care program, and seeking out legitimate employment, calling this initial effort Jobs for a Future. “Gang violence is about a lethal absence of hope,” Boyle has said. “Nobody has ever met a hopeful kid who joined a gang.”
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