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" The employer is not going to choose the gang member who's just been released from prison: they're going to choose the person with the skills. "

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" My job isn't to fix or rescue or to save. It's to accompany, see people, listen to them. "

" Jesus did not only serve the needs of the people, but truly hoped that the people and Jesus would be one. "

" All politics are local, and so in church. "

" You can't reason with gang violence: you can't talk to it, sit it at the table, and negotiate with it. "

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

" 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. "

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

" Young people can change and grow. Every parent knows that. "

" 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,' because that's nonsense. "

" Businesses have come and gone at Homeboy Industries. We have had starts and stops, but anything worth doing is worth failing at. We started Homeboy Plumbing. That didn't go so well. Who knew? People didn't want gang members in their homes. I just didn't see that coming. "

" Homeboy Bakery is an alternative to kids who have found themselves, regrettably, in gangs and want to redirect their lives. "

" 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. "

" The truth is this: Brutalized, victimized children invariably will brutalize and victimize when they grow up. Is our only response to this the certain promise that we will penalize them when they do? Or will we commit to keeping our children safe from brutality and victimization? "

" Showing up in the lives of children is everything. "

" Richard Rohr is a theologian that I read. "

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

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

" 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 the circumstances in which he finds himself. "

" We are among the handful of countries that has difficulty distinguishing juveniles from adults where crime is concerned. We are convinced that if a child commits an adult crime, that kid is magically transformed into an adult. Consequently, we try juveniles as adults. "

" 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. "

" Abject poverty, political instability, torture, and other abuses push thousands across our border. There is not a deterrent imaginable that equals the conditions that force their migration. "

" I'm not always optimistic, but I am hopeful. "

" 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. "

" 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.' "

" I love movies. "

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

" I'm not opposed to success. "

" 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. "

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

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