Gregory Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the President Obama named Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame's 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics. He is the acclaimed author of Tattoos on the Heart, Barking to the Choir, and The Whole Language. Cherished Belonging is his fourth book, and he will be donating all net proceeds to Homeboy Industries.
Praise for Barking to the Choir "This is a beautiful and important
and soul-transporting book. It's written by Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit
priest in Los Angeles who has worked with (and loved) gang-members
for decades. This book is about how to love people. How to really
love people. And how to know God when you see God. . . . This is a
fantastic book. Please read it." --Elizabeth Gilbert "If you're in
the market for genuine inspiration, I urge you to read Barking to
the Choir by Gregory Boyle, a book that shows what the platitudes
of faith look like when they're put into action." --Ann
Patchett
Praise for Tattoos on the Heart "Destined to become a classic of
both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality." --The Los
Angeles Times
"Tattoos on the Heart is an astounding book and a remarkable
testament. No one brings more triumph and tragedy to the street
gang story than Greg Boyle. No one brings more conviction and
compassion than Greg Boyle. And no one writes the gang story more
beautifully." --Malcolm Klein, Professor Emeritus, University of
Southern California
"Tattoos on the Heart is an honest, raw, and compelling collection
from Father Greg Boyle's life and work with gang-involved youth.
His commitment should teach us all a lesson in compromise, sharing,
learning, loving, and, most important, living life to the fullest."
--Anjelica Huston
"A set of stories that will stir many emotions. They will leave you
dumbfounded at the power of love and compassion to break down high
walls built by anger and pain." --America magazine
"A spiritual masterpiece touching the innermost sanctum of the
human soul. Boyle approaches each person as a child of God and
fully deserving of love and compassion. His capacity to reach the
heart of the most hardened, and to see the best in everyone,
inspires. I laughed, wept, and underlined on virtually every page."
--Kerry Kennedy, founder of The RFK Center for Justice and Human
Rights
"An astonishing book . . . about suffering and dignity, death and
resurrection, one of my favorite books in years. It is lovely and
tough and tender beyond my ability to describe and left me in tears
of both sorrow and laughter." --Anne Lamott, author of Grace
(Eventually)
"An extraordinary reflection of a life totally committed to
reshaping and redirecting the lives of countless young gang members
(from L.A.'s gang culture), Greg Boyle's Tattoos on the Heart
proves one man with courage is a majority." --Martin Sheen
"Father Boyle reminds us all that every single child and youth is a
part of God's 'jurisdiction'--and when they know that we are seeing
them as God does, they are capable of great things. Father Boyle is
a national treasure." --Marian Wright Edelman, President,
Children's Defense Fund
"In this artful, disquieting, yet surprisingly jubilant memoir,
Jesuit priest Boyle recounts his two decades of working with homies
in Los Angeles County, which contains 1,100 gangs with nearly
86,000 members. . . . From moving vignettes about gangsters
breaking into tears or finding themselves worthy of love and
affirmation, to moments of spiritual reflection and sidesplittingly
funny banter between him and the homies, Boyle creates a convincing
and even joyful treatise on the sacredness of every life.
Considering that he has buried more than 150 young people from
gang-related violence, the joyful tenor of the book remains an
astounding literary and spiritual feat." --Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
"Incandescent, always hope-filled and often hilarious. Boyle
somehow maintains an exuberant voice that celebrates the strength,
compassion and humanity of people often demonized. He simply
highlights charity and goodness wherever they are found. Boyle
intersperses his narratives about gang members and his work with
them with theological and spiritual reflections from a variety of
theologians, poets and other writers. By introducing book-buying,
highly educated readers to people we may never otherwise encounter,
Boyle aspires to "broaden the parameters of our kinship.'" --The
Christian Century
"Jaw-dropping. Boyle take[s] us through the human lifecycle of
fall/grace/redemption/repeat again and again. Reading this book is
a spiritually cleansing experience that won't leave you the same.
The compassion Boyle writes of is so deep and wide and strong that
nobody is ever beyond its reach. Tattoos on the Heart welcomes all
of us to join in the "no matter whatness" of God's unconditional
love." --Sojourners
"One of the bravest, most humane, heartbreaking, brilliant, and
hopeful stories I've read in ages. Father Greg, the Gandhi of the
Gangs, fills Tattoos with unquenchable soul force and down-to-earth
love." --Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart
"Sometimes we are allowed to see in our own lifetimes what we were
supposed to see in the life and ministry of Jesus. Read, and let
your life be changed!" --Father Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for
Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico
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