Exquisite Compassion with Father Greg Boyle

Father Greg Boyle has spent most of his adult years helping transform the lives of former gang members at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. In this conversation he applies his many lessons learned to how we can increase joy and reduce loneliness in schools through kinship, mercy, and meaning. 

We cover a lot of territory, including: 

2:21 Greg’s childhood on Norton Avenue

4:23 How Bolivia turned Greg inside out

9:00 How Homeboy Industries came to be

12:26 Building a powerful culture

16:50 A powerful message from a Homie to teachers

19:02 The cultural problem in American schools (the power of relationships)

21:23 The powerful story of Lencho and true belonging

25:30 Exquisite compassion and merciful community

30:09 How Father Greg’s school addressed the most difficult students

31:02 Steve seeks counsel on the youth mental health crisis

33:13 The recipe for sadness and the recipe for joy and wholeness

36:57 How schools are rising to meet the challenge

40:06 Father Greg tells a story you won’t want to miss

Learn more about Father Greg and Homeboy Industries

Homeboy Industries’ powerful 30-year anniversary short video

Father Greg’s commencement address at Pepperdine University

Mike Wallace’s 1992 60 Minutes story on Father Greg

About Experience Matters

Experience Matters with Steve Shapiro invites guests to reflect on the most profound learning experiences of their youth and to consider how we can reform American schools. Each episode provides clues about how parents and educators alike can engage young people in powerful, sometimes transformational experiential learning. Education can take many forms, but whatever form it takes- experience matters.