Greg Boyle

I don't believe in mistakes. Everything belongs, and, as the homies say, 'It's all good.'

— Greg Boyle

We don't need a specialized gang unit. We need patrol officers who specialize in knowing their community.

— Greg Boyle

I founded Homeboy Industries in 1988 after I buried my first young person killed in our streets because of gang violence.

— Greg Boyle

People have to see that there is a high degree of complexity about belonging to a gang. It's a symptom, not a…

— Greg Boyle

The poor evangelize you about what's important and what is the Gospel, and that that's where the joy is.

— Greg Boyle

The church needs a pope who can call us to conversion and lead us to take seriously what Jesus did.

— Greg Boyle

God seems to be an unwilling participant in our efforts to pigeonhole Him.

— Greg Boyle

I think that any program that's born from below rather than on high is going to survive.

— Greg Boyle

I do believe in lessons learned. I have learned that you work with gang members and not with gangs; otherwise, you enforce…

— Greg Boyle

Gang members aren't frightened into acceptable behavior by increased penalties, enhanced punishments, and the promise of new detention facilities.

— Greg Boyle

The Church should say, 'I'm frightened that women will be ordained;' that's honest, say that. But don't say, 'It's a grave sin,'…

— Greg Boyle

The highest hallmark of a civilized society is not the rapidity by which it exacts vengeance, but its ability to hold victim…

— Greg Boyle

I know two L.A.s. Half my life was around the house my folks had for 46 years at 3rd and Norton. The…

— Greg Boyle

Gangs are bastions of conditional love, and one of the ways to counteract it is to offer community, which will always trump…

— Greg Boyle

As much as I dislike the suggestion of single solutions to complex problems, jobs are as close as we will get to…

— Greg Boyle

Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with the 'demonized' so that the demonizing will stop; it stands with the 'disposable' so that…

— Greg Boyle

I'm not going to be here forever. I don't plan on going anywhere, but I don't know anybody for whom death is…

— Greg Boyle

The mark of our society as civilized will come when we embrace confidence in the power of redemption.

— Greg Boyle

At its best, an injunction creates a kind of vigilant heat that moves kids toward the light.

— Greg Boyle

Gangs are born of a lethal absence of hope, and hope has an address: 130 W. Bruno St. in Los Angeles, CA 90012.

— Greg Boyle

“St. Paul challenges us to "dedicate ourselves to thankfulness" and so I will.”

— Greg Boyle

Like the suffering child, gang members act out of their despair, and their actions are all the more alarming now for our…

— Greg Boyle

W a gang member, and especially in a Latino gang, gets jumped in, and then he's given a name, and he has…

— Greg Boyle

We need not wait for further, well-placed home video cameras to see that low-intensity warfare is being waged against low-income minorities. We…

— Greg Boyle

No kid is seeking anything when he joins a gang; he's always fleeing something. He's not being pulled; he's being pushed by…

— Greg Boyle

What is ultimately compelling for our children in helping them conjure images of a future for themselves is our willingness to walk…

— Greg Boyle

The highest religious and spiritual ideals of any faith would invite us to a compassion for all lives destroyed by the violence…

— Greg Boyle

Businesses have come and gone at Homeboy Industries. We have had starts and stops, but anything worth doing is worth failing at.…

— Greg Boyle

For over twenty years, Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with those on the margins and those whose burdens are more than…

— Greg Boyle

I always have a funny story at communion time that underscores that no one is perfect, and that communion is not for…

— Greg Boyle

Relapse happens, especially when you're dealing with folks who are frankly the least likely to succeed based on their own pasts and…

— Greg Boyle

I have a lot of people in my life, and I think there's something key: the thing that leads to intimacy and…

— Greg Boyle

There is no such thing as a bad cop, only disturbing and dominant cop thinking that will invariably lead to excessive force…

— Greg Boyle

Metro police can't infuse hope into those for whom hope is foreign. The algorithm does not exist that can heal the traumatized.…

— Greg Boyle

I spent the summers of 1984 and 1985 as an associate pastor at Dolores Mission Church, the poorest parish in the Los…

— Greg Boyle

When the vastness of God meets the restriction of our own humanity, words can't hold it. The best we can do is…

— Greg Boyle

Does God feel like that same-sex marriage could happen? I don't think anybody who has a connection to God and God's understanding…

— Greg Boyle

It has become an accepted tenet that kids will rarely listen to their parents but seldom fail to imitate them. Communicating the…

— Greg Boyle

If the Los Angeles Police Department had enough officers, it could focus on one part of the community and stay there long…

— Greg Boyle

“Teilhard de Chardin wrote that we must "trust in the slow work of God." Ours is a God who waits. Who are…

— Greg Boyle