104: Burying 250 Friends: Greg Boyle on Community Amidst Gang Violence (Best of NSE)

How do you reteach love to a community that society has deemed unloveable?

In the 80s and 90s, the city of Los Angeles was ravaged by what is now known as the "decade of death," a period of unprecedented gang violence, peaking at 1,000 killings in 1992 alone. It was in the midst of this unrest, fear, and finger-pointing that Father Greg Boyle became pastor of the poorest Catholic parish in the city, in order to live and work among gang members.

This eventually led him to start Homeboy Industries, which is now the largest gang-member rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. In this episode, he tells some breathtaking stories, offering wisdom from a life lived in community with those who society neglects: “You don't go to the margins to make a difference. You go so the folks at the margins make you different.”

 

• Show Notes:

  • Similar episodes
  • Taking the Beatitudes Seriously: John Dear
  • The Power of Being Known: Curt Thompson
  • The Facts of Life: Pádraig Ó Tuama

• Resources mentioned this episode

  • Homeboy Industries website
  • Tattoos on the Heart by Greg Boyle
  • Barking to the Choir by Greg Boyle

• PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes 

• Transcription Link

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