Compassion Can Transform The World | Father Greg Boyle

Father Greg Boyle (0:00)

I've learned to stand in awe at what people have to carry rather than in judgment at how they carry it.

Michael Gervais (0:09)

Okay, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. Today's conversation is with a very special human, Father Greg Boyle.

Father Greg is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, which is the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world.

Each year, over 10,000 former gang members and previously incarcerated people come through Homeboy Industries doors where they are given hope, training, and support to redirect their lives and become contributing members of our community. Father Greg is a recipient of the California Peace Prize and has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame and was named a Champion of Change by President Obama in 2014

Father Greg is a rare example of someone who fully embodies altruism in its purest form. He is an emblem for hope, for compassion, for kinship, and the power of second chances. I hope this conversation leaves you feeling more connected to the humanity in each of us and inspired to lift others up in your community as well. So with that, let's jump right into this week's conversation with Father Greg Boyle. Greg, I've watched what you've done from a distance for a long time, and I'm honored to sit down with you. And so thank you for spending the time to come in to the Mastery Lab and share your life's work and the perspectives that have been guiding your life's work. So for folks that are not familiar with Homeboy Industries, can we start there with just giving a quick flyover about what Homeboy Industries is and maybe the origin story as well?

Father Greg Boyle (2:15)

It's great to be with you as well. So Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention rehab reentry program on the planet. So about 10,000 folks a year walk through our doors trying to reimagine their lives. So we've started in 1988 when I was pastor of the poorest parish in the city that had eight gangs at war with each other, largest grouping of public housing west of the Mississippi, and the highest concentration of gang activity in the city according to the LAPD.

So we started a school and then a jobs program and then social enterprises, and that was, you know, 35 years ago or almost 35

Michael Gervais (2:58)

So as a Jesuit priest, why did you decide to move into gang rehabilitation?

Father Greg Boyle (3:04)

Well, I was pastor first of this very poor parish, Dolores Mission. So that was, and I spoke Spanish, so that was kind of how I ended up there.

And then that was during the decade of death, which was 88 to 98, when 92 was when we had a thousand gang related homicides in the county.

Michael Gervais (3:25)

I lived here during that time.

Father Greg Boyle (3:27)

Yeah, it was horrific.

Michael Gervais (3:28)

It was hard to know if it was exponentially worse than other places in the world that, you know, had lots of murder, but it just felt like it was every weekend.

Father Greg Boyle (3:44)

Yeah, no, it was bad and it was worse than other places, but every place had experienced a worsening during that time, and part of that had to do with the crack cocaine epidemic and lots of other things. Oddly, it also coincided with a tough embrace that was kind of pervasive across the country, especially in LA as well, and so oddly that kind of issued in only exacerbating the problem.

Michael Gervais (4:15)

What is the get tough?

Father Greg Boyle (4:16)

Get tough, wipe them out, lock them up, throw away the key, that kind of thing.

Michael Gervais (4:21)

Oh, like the message from police or government?

Father Greg Boyle (4:24)

And the citizens in general. So in those days, everybody thought the choice was, are you tough on crime or are you soft? If that's your choice, nobody chooses soft.

But then I think as Homeboy helped actually in this county, then the question became, are you tough or are you smart? And then given that choice, people started to say, well, I'd rather be smart. So then that's how the hostility towards an effort like Homeboy, which was really deep for the first 10 years, death threats, bomb threats, hate mail.

Michael Gervais (5:05)

To you or to?

Father Greg Boyle (5:06)

To me and to the organization. So it wasn't from gang members, but it was from law enforcement or people who demonized, who felt that this was the enemy.