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" I spent the summers of 1984 and 1985 as an associate pastor at Dolores Mission Church, the poorest parish in the Los Angeles archdiocese. In 1986, I became pastor of the church. "

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" Most citizens viewing the tape of Rodney G. King being beaten by police officers were stunned and uncomprehending. Most citizens, that is, but the urban poor. "

Greg Boyle

Police Officers

King

Poor

" The draconian spirit that seeks to enhance penalties and to lower the age at which juveniles will be tries as adults, is part of the 'whole cloth' of three strikes. Our failure to address the depair of our inner-city youth is only delayed by our over-confidence in a stance that is 'tougher than thou.' "

" Gangs are bastions of conditional love, and one of the ways to counteract it is to offer community, which will always trump gang, and that's what happens at Homeboy Industries. "

" I would hope that government officials have a healthy respect for the complexity of the gang problem. They should never lose sight of the fact that there are human beings involved. There is no single solution. "

" I do believe in lessons learned. I have learned that you work with gang members and not with gangs; otherwise, you enforce the cohesion of gangs and supply them oxygen. "

" Don't forget, you are the hero of your own story. "

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

" Our best selves tell us that 'there but for the grace of God... ' and that, in the end, there is no distance, really, between us and them. It is just us. Our best and noble hope is to imitate the God we believe in. The God who has abundant room in God's grief and heart for us all. "

" Children find themselves adrift not because the informational signposts are illegible, but because there is no one around to guide and accompany them. "

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

" 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 an exception. "

" So complex are all the ingredients that cause gang membership that it seems virtually impossible to isolate one solution that can address them all and thereby manufacture a hope for the future upon which these kids can rely. "

" I've never met an evil person ever. "

" You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear. "

" It has become an accepted tenet that kids will rarely listen to their parents but seldom fail to imitate them. Communicating the message has never been a good substitute for 'showing up' and embodying the message. "

" God is compassion. "

Greg Boyle

Compassion

God

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

" We can't get at crime unless we know what language it speaks. Otherwise, we are just suppressing the cough, not curing the disease. "

" Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a civilized society. "

" My church is in the detention facilities where I preside and celebrate the Eucharist. To me that's the church. That's the people of God. "

" I'm the priest who has been mistaken for an ATM machine. "

" What is ultimately compelling for our children in helping them conjure images of a future for themselves is our willingness to walk with them as they do it. "

" You are exactly what God had in mind when he made you. "

" I didn't take my vows to the LAPD. "

Greg Boyle

Vows

Take

" We need the disruption of categories that lead us to abandon the difficult, the disagreeable, and the least likely to go very far. "

Greg Boyle

Disruption

Difficult

" In Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world, we have 1,100 gangs and 120,000 gang members so it is a daunting, complex social dilemma. "

" Most employers just aren't willing to look beyond the dumbest or worst thing someone has done. "

" As a society, we come up lacking in many of the marks of compassion and wisdom by which we measure ourselves as civilized. "

" I know now that gang warfare is not the Middle East or Northern Ireland. There is violence in gang violence, but there is no conflict. It is not 'about something.' It is the language of the despondent and traumatized. "

" If the Los Angeles Police Department had enough officers, it could focus on one part of the community and stay there long enough to know and respect the people the officers are called on to protect and serve. "