Father G takes tender approach to gang intervention in L.A.
More viewpoint
On the corner of West Bruno and North Alameda Streets, in a not so posh part of Los Angeles, hope is claiming a foothold.
Homeboy Industries, founded in 1988 by Father Greg Boyle, is rooted in that otherwise inauspicious corner of a city considered by many to be the gang capital of the world. But if you open the glass doors and step inside, you will find a world unto itself.
First, there’s the crowd of former gang members, or “homies” as they are affectionately known, who show up every day. Add to that already lively mix several of the nine social enterprises that make up the Homeboy brand, a dozen or so cramped offices from which a harried staff run the $17 million a year operation, an always busy tattoo removal clinic, and classrooms where over 40 different classes are held every week. It’s a bustling place.
The glue that holds the whole unwieldy mess together is Father Greg Boyle, or Father G as the homies call him. He doesn’t stand on formalities. There simply isn’t time.
It’s hard to name the magic that happens there. But an Ash Wednesday/Valentine’s Day tweet, comes close to summing it up for me: “(Lent) is not about sin and giving stuff up. It’s about giving in to the tenderness of God who has only one message, and that is to look at you with breathless delight and say, ‘You’re here.’”
Imagine. A Jesuit parish priest turned entrepreneur has somehow managed to turn tenderness into a methodology for interrupting the seemingly intractable cycles of violence, neglect, and abuse that lead to gang involvement in the first place.
For many of the men and women – mostly young, 70 percent Latino, 99 percent survivors of massive trauma – who find their way to Homeboy, it works.
According to their 2016 annual report, 250+ former gang members are employed in social enterprises.
Hundreds have completed a solar panel installation training and certification program. Thousands more come to take advantage of the wide array of free support services Homeboy offers.
In another tweet, Father Greg wrote, “Healing is messy and human and gutwrenching and hilarious, and it is not a precise science.” No kidding.
We are a couple of parish priests who in retirement are trying to live into the inspiration stirred by the radical faith of people like Father Greg Boyle.
Boyle will speak at Church of the Holy Communion at 7 p.m. Monday, March 19, and at 12:05 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, at Calvary Episcopal Church. He will sign his books, “Tattoos on the Heart” and “Barking to the Choir” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Novel. All events are free and open to the public.
Rev. Eyleen Farmer is founder of Thistle and Bee Enterprises, a social enterprise serving women who have survived prostitution and sex trafficking. Rev. Tom Momberg is a member of the Shelby Countywide Juvenile Justice Consortium.
For more commentary, go to commercialappeal.com/opinion/