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Monday, May 20th 2013 
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Father Greg Boyle Of Homeboy Industries Captivates Bixby Knolls Crowd

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6:00am | Father Greg Boyle spoke Wednesday night to a warm crowd of about 200 people at the celebration of the 3rd anniversary of the Bixby Knolls Literary Society; at the Expo Building on Atlantic Ave in Bixby Knolls.
 
In 1992, as a response to the civil unrest in Los Angeles, Father Greg launched the first business of Homeboy Industries called the Homeboy Bakery with a mission to create an environment that provided training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side. The success of the Bakery created the groundwork for additional businesses, thus prompting them to become a non-profit organization, Homeboy Industries, in 2001. Today, Homeboy Industries’ nonprofit economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, and Homegirl Café.

As Executive Director of Homeboy Industries and an acknowledged expert on gangs and intervention approaches, Fr. Boyle is a nationally renowned speaker. He has given commencement addresses at numerous universities, as well as spoken at conferences for teachers, social workers, criminal justice workers and others about the importance of adult attention, guidance and unconditional love in preventing youth from joining gangs. Fr. Greg and several “homies” were featured speakers at the White House Conference on Youth in 2005 at the personal invitation of Mrs. George Bush.

Father Greg told stories from his book, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion,  which was released on March 9, 2010 and will be in paper back later this month. The clip speaks of a greater need for our society to be gripped and motivated by a unified vision of "kinship".


[UPDATE] We had some trouble with the video, but it should be posted at the top of the page and working fine now. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are still having issues. Thank you.

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Archived Comments (5)
CHARLIE
Now this is the kind of good news I love to see in LBPOST, and Congratulations to Father Greg on his positive work!
Clarissa
Maybe I'm being simple, but I don't see the clip. Where do I find it?
Summer
Where is the clip? I don't see it.
Mary Pitcher
Greg has done great work and he speaks the truth. Too bad the church he is a part of doesn't live that truth. They proclaim to stand with the voiceless...but then silence those who speak out. Ask survivors of clergy abuse whether they've been encouraged to speak out. Ask them if they feel they've had a voice. J. Michael Hennigan, Past President of the board of Homeboy Industries was Cardinal Mahony's attorney. He represented the church against the clergy abuse survivors. Not black and white here..... It's all so very gray and messy!
Mkt
I attended the luncheon and was offended by his frequent use of profanity. I understand he works in the "street" but he doesn't need to repeat the foul language in a public forum. I also found it interesting that he was speaking before a group that touts its tolerance for others beliefs yet he thought it was okay to make a disparaging remark about Sarah Palin and everyone thought it was okay to laugh. It is okay to make fun of someone if they are Christian and Conservative. What hypocrisy!

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