Father Gregory Boyle on Dec 3, 2024 | UCSB Arts & Lectures

“The answer to every question is, indeed, compassion.” – Gregory Boyle

“Father Greg Boyle makes amazingly winsome connections between things like service and delight, and compassion and awe – amazing, because he works in an urban setting others describe in terms of crime and despair.”
– Krista Tippet, host of On Being

Over the past 30 years, Father Gregory Boyle has transformed thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention program in the world. The program runs on two unwavering principles: 1) Everyone is unshakably good (no exceptions) and 2) we belong to each other (no exceptions). Every community wants to be a safe place, where people are seen, and are cherished. At a time when society is more fractured than ever, Boyle’s forthcoming book Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times invites us to see the world through a new lens of connection and build the loving community that we long to live in. Boyle was named a Champion of Change by President Obama in 2014, and was a recipient of the 2024 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.