On Saturday, September 14, Fr. John Dear welcomes Fr. Greg Boyle, one of the most well known and beloved religious leaders in the nation, to the Beatitudes Center. A Jesuit priest, Fr. Greg has spent decades accompanying and working with young people and gang members in Los Angeles, California, and helping them rebuild their lives. Fr. Greg will reflect on the themes of social belonging, tenderness, and love as a way to survive, heal, and thrive in this difficult, divided, and violent time.
Fr. Greg is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program, and former pastor of Dolores Mission Church in East Los Angeles, the poorest church in the city. By 1988, in an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Fr. Greg and his parish began to develop positive opportunities for them, including establishing an alternative school, a day care program, and legitimate employment through their project, “Jobs for a Future.” Following the 1992 riots in L.A., they launched their first social enterprise business, Homeboy Bakery. Their great success laid the groundwork for many other social enterprise businesses which led to the creation of their independent nonprofit organization, Homeboy Industries.
Homeboys offers an “exit ramp” for those stuck in a cycle of violence and incarceration. The organization’s holistic approach, with free services and programs, supports around 10,000 men and women a year as they work to overcome their pasts, re-imagine their futures, and break the inter-generational cycles of gang violence. Therapeutic and educational offerings (case management, counseling, and classes), practical services (such as tattoo removal, work readiness, and legal assistance), and job training-focused business (e.g., Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café, and Homeboy Silkscreen & Embroidery) provide healing alternatives to gang life while creating safer and healthier communities.
Fr. Greg’s best-selling books include: Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion; Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship; Creating a Culture of Tenderness: Embracing Our Kinship with All of Life; The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness; and Forgive Everyone Everything.
To register, visit www.beatitudescenter.org.
The program will begin 11am Pacific/ 12pm Mountain/ 1pm Central/ 2pm Eastern time. You will receive the zoom link a few days beforehand, so be on the lookout, and a recording link afterwards. Scholarships are available.
Cancellation policy: Refunds will not be honored after the zoom link is sent out. If you have any questions, please email Kassandra at: beatitudescentermb@gmail.com