Notre Dame College has named the Jesuit priest who for nearly 25 years has been training and employing former gang members in Los Angeles as its 2016 Abrahamic Center Distinguished Lecturer.
The Rev. Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries, considered the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, will provide the College’s Abrahamic Center Distinguished Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 17, at Regina Auditorium on the Notre Dame campus.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Abrahamic Center at the College develops educational programs fostering mutual respect among all peoples and celebrating religious, racial and cultural diversity for the College and the Greater Cleveland community.
Author of the New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, Boyle will present “There is No Them and Us: Why a Sense of Compassion Matters in Our World.”
Each year, Homeboy Industries, an independent nonprofit organization in Los Angeles, assists a total of about 15,000 men and women who are considered at-risk, formerly involved in gangs and previously incarcerated to become contributing members of community. Services include tattoo removal, anger management and parenting classes as well as job readiness programs and employment.
The organization also houses a range of social enterprises providing full-time jobs to more than 200 men and women previously involved in gangs and recently released from jail or prison.
After completing 18-month training programs, participants are placed in one of four businesses run by Homeboy Industries. New employees bake bread, learn to silkscreen, develop retail skills or help operate a restaurant and catering business.
In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Boyle, as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in East L.A., led a community and parish initiative that had been providing positive opportunities for gang-involved youth to start the first of these social enterprises, Homeboy Bakery.
Boyle was first appointed pastor of the church in the Boyle Heights neighborhood in 1986. At the time, Dolores Mission was the poorest Catholic parish in the city and was located between two public housing projects with the highest concentration of gang activity in Los Angeles.
Within two years, Boyle and members of the parish and community created the Jobs for a Future and Proyecto Pastoral programs that became Homeboy Industries. The initiatives also developed an alternative school and day care program as a way to support gang-involved youth in their efforts to seek legitimate employment. Homeboy Industries has served as a model for other communities.
About the Rev. Gregory J. Boyle, S.J.
Boyle received the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the James Beard Foundation, the national culinary-arts organization and was named a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014.
His book received the PEN Center USA 2011 Creative Nonfiction Award and was named one of the Best Books of 2010 by Publishers Weekly. He is the subject of Academy Award winner Freida Lee Mock’s 2012 documentary, G-Dog. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Boyle earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English from Gonzaga University, a master’s degree in English from Loyola Marymount University, a Master of Divinity degree from the Weston School of Theology and a Master of Sacred Theology degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.
He entered the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, in 1972 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1984.
In addition to his efforts in Los Angeles, Boyle has served as a chaplain at the Islas Marias Federal Penal Colony in Mexico and at Folsom State Prison. He also has lived and worked with Christian-based communities in Bolivia.
About the Notre Dame College Abrahamic Center
The Abrahamic Center is a direct outgrowth of the innovative work of Notre Dame’s Tolerance Resource Center, which has provided significant opportunities for research, outreach and education on the Holocaust, anti-bias issues and diversity for nearly 15 years.
The initiative honors Abraham’s status as: patriarch of the three great monotheistic traditions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam; paragon of hospitality and welcoming the “Other;” and prophet of social justice and peace.
About Notre Dame College
For almost a century, Notre Dame College has educated a diverse population in the liberal arts for personal, professional and global responsibility. Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1922, the College has grown strategically to keep pace with the rapidly changing needs of students and the dramatic changes in higher education. But it has never lost sight of its emphasis on teaching students not only how to make a good living but also how to live a good life.
Today, the College offers bachelor’s degrees in 30 disciplines plus a variety of master's degrees, certification programs and continuing and professional development programs for adult learners on campus and online. Notre Dame College offers NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletic programs for men and women and is located in a picturesque residential neighborhood just 25 minutes from the heart of Cleveland. Hallmarks of the Notre Dame experience include stimulating academics, personalized attention of dedicated faculty and staff, and small class sizes.
Notre Dame College is located at 4545 College Road in South Euclid. For further information contact Brian Johnston, chief communications officer, at 216.373.5252 or bjohnston@ndc.edu.