Fr. Boyle of Homeboy Industries to speak at the U

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — Jesuit Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries and author of the best-seller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, will be the keynote speaker during the Feb. 20 Social Justice Lecture Series presentation at the University of Utah.

Fr. Boyle was pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles from 1986 to 1992. The parish was located in gang territory, and Fr. Boyle “started what would become Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit organization that has become the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world,” according to his press biography. “Homeboy employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises, as well as provides critical services to over 10,000 people who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life.”

Fr. Boyle is in great demand as a speaker, said Irene Ota, diversity coordinator at the University of Utah, where she also is an instructor. “I invited Fr. Boyle [for the lecture series] because students and other people in the community asked. They knew his work and they were very excited.”

After researching Fr. Boyle, Ota concluded that “this is a guy without a lot of power or prestige” who nonetheless “actually did something” to help young people get out of gang life, she said; she also appreciated his book, which she describes as being written “in a very open and honest way, not romanticizing gangs or how these young people get out of gang life and go on.”

During his presentation, titled “Be Fearless for Me: Courage and the Gospel of the Marginalized,” Fr. Boyle “will talk about the invitation from Jesus to be courageous in living the gospel at the margins. Drawing on 30 years of working with gang members, Fr. Boyle will focus on joy, hope, and the courage of tenderness,” according to the press release.

“Like Pope Francis, Fr. Boyle lives what he preaches,” said Jean Hill, Diocese of Salt Lake City government liaison. “His work with gang members begins with seeing Christ in each person and understanding that social justice isn’t just a concept, it is a profession of faith in action. His talk will inspire and re-energize local Catholics looking to live their faith in acts of mercy and justice.”

The United States is predominantly a Christian nation, and religion is highly important in Utah, Ota said, but “sometimes religious beliefs are used to justify oppressing or judging others, and I hope that this talk from Fr. Greg Boyle will move them to more compassionate ways of knowing, of feeling.”

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Social Justice Lecture Series, and the College of Social Work and the University of Utah administration “all agreed this was a wonderful landmark to celebrate” by bringing in speakers like Fr. Boyle, Ota said.

The 2015-16 series began in September with Shakti Butler, founder of World Trust. October’s presentation was by B. Cole, executive director of the Brown Boi Project. The series will close March 29 with a performance of Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni’s one-woman show “One Drop of Love.” For information, visit http://www.utah.edu/events/featured-events.php.