“These young people can’t just say no to gangs, unless we offer to help them to just say yes to life, to a tomorrow that holds something better for them.”
“It’s not so much about seeking the other but to find yourself in the other. Real belonging, that ends in becoming, is not about membership, it’s about kinship.”
These two quotes are from Fr. Greg Boyle’s latest book The Whole Language: The Extravagant Power of Tenderness. I admire Fr. Boyle and enjoy reading his books because through his stories about Homeboy Industries, he conveys so eloquently how God loves all of us. His model of kinship lived throughout the global network of Homeboy Industries is truly making the world a better place!
Father G or G-Dog, as he is affectionately known by his homies, began Homeboy Ministry in East L.A. in 1988. It is now the largest gang intervention, rehab, and re-entry program in the world. Young men and women are offered a variety of services to facilitate healing and growth, such as job training, tattoo removal, and substance abuse programs.
Here are a few more quotes from The Whole Language:
“Our organization wants to be the front porch of the house we all long to live in.”
“We want to hold the wounded AND the person who did the wounding—because we are always both.”
“Jesus lived, breathed, and embodied a boundary-subverting inclusion. If it’s inclusive and wildly so, then you know you’re warm. You are close to it. Nothing is excluded except excluding. The Church speaks the whole language when it includes. It was intended by Jesus to be an alternative social vision.”
Homeboy Industries’ motto is “Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job.” You can donate to this fine organization in several ways. Give to support one of their many Social Enterprises such as Homegirl Café’s Feed HOPE Program or Homeboy Electronics Recycling. You can order many customized products through Homeboy Silkscreen and Embroidery or shop for some excellent merch at the Homeboy Store.