Hitting Notes

One of the hymns at mass on Ash Wednesday brought to mind a book I had just completed the day before.  That book, Tattoos on the Heart by Greg Boyle, SJ,  is a compilation of stories of Fr. Boyle's work with former gang members (although once a gang member always a gang member?) who work(ed) for Homeboy Industries  in LA.  Gang members are referenced as Homies.  Fr. Boyle notes that Los Angeles is the gang capital of the United States, and the area in which he ministers is the gang capital of LA.  Fr. Boyle began work in the area in the mid 1980's as an associate pastor at St. Dolores Mission Church.  The church was in the midst of two notorious housing projects, together known as Pico-Aliso.  Fr. Boyle's stories are both heart wrenching and beautiful, showing both the hard side of gangs and yet the grace that love and compassion can render when realized. That is where the hymn "Ashes" (Tom Conroy)  comes into play.   Boyle has  the following quote (p.94):  "Resilience is born by grounding yourself in your own loveliness, hitting notes you thought were out of your range."  Every person has some loveliness, they may just need to discover it; that is what Homeboy attempts.

We rise again from ashes,
from the good we've failed to do.
We rise again from ashes,
to create ourselves anew.
If all our world is ashes,
then must our lives be true,
An offering of ashes,
An offering to You. 

What is shown by Boyle is the resilience of the Homies of LA, and the ability of many to move above a terrifying cycle and existence where parents have been drug addicts, or in many circumstances simply not present; it is an existence of drugs and crime, and quite frankly little opportunity. Given the socio-economic situation present, Boyle quickly realized more had to be done.  Fr. Boyle, who served two years as an assistant at that parish, and would become pastor after a trip to Bolivia instilled in him a desire to work with the poor.

Fr Boyle with some Homies

The church quickly became a homeless shelter under Fr. Boyle.  It did not take long for the ugly, lingering, overwhelming odor of smelly feet and homeless men to encapsulate the church and to get people to complain.  Hence, a parish meeting was called to discuss the matter.  When one person present asks "why we let it happen" (i.e. the church being used as a homeless shelter) a woman responds because that is what we are committed to do.  When asked why they have such a commitment, the response by another parishioner was simple, it is what Jesus would do.  An older man then gets up in the back and yells (although in Spanish) "It smells like commitment"; the place, Boyle recounts breaks into cheers.  The smell is still there, he says,  it is simply cloaked in the sense of mission.  This is not a wealthy parish, it is the poorest in the diocese, yet these members, from the lowest end of the social and economic strata are committed to helping their neighborhood.  Grounding themselves in loveliness. To create a world anew.

From Inaugural Radical Disruptors Event, July 2017
In 2017 "The Economist" magazine referred to Homeboy Industries  as the
most successful gang intervention and rehabilitation program in the world.

There are likely few poorer and crime ridden areas of LA than Boyle Heights, in which Homeboy and St. Dolores church are located.  Boyle quickly realized that many children in the area were kicked out of school, and so he opened an alternative school, and a day care.  This then led him to create what is now known as Homeboy Industries, a way to provide counseling, jobs and training to former  gang often incarcerated youths and young adults. All in east LA an area teeming with gangs, bad blood, drugs, and vendetta's.  

Homeboy runs the largest tattoo removal service in the world

The thing about Homeboy Industries is that it employs former members of varied rival gangs. Members of former rival gangs work next to each other.  To say animosity, hate and revenge runs deep would be an understatement.   It makes "West Side Story" a walk in the park. As one said, the book is about fall, grace and redemption. It is here, out of desire for revenge, that Homeboy wants to develop what Boyle refers to as kinship.  But yet, in too many instances a young person who had found redemption would be killed, either just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time (as occurred to a young man who was packing his car to head out for a camping trip) or because he or she had once been a member of a rival gang.  Some gang members clearly had failures, but many obtained goodness.

We offer You our failures,
we offer You attempts;
The gifts not fully given,
the dreams not fully dreamt.
Give our stumblings direction,
give our visions wider view,
An offering of ashes,
An offering to You.

In one example of goodness, Fr Boyle was to receive an award from Loyola Marymount University, but a  previously scheduled speaking engagement prevented him from attending so he asked a Homie to accept the award on his behalf.  Most all Homies have a record, and have served time in some sort of prison, jail, or detention.  Elias, the Homie, agreed to accept the award but had second thoughts when he finds out he has to say a few words.  He walks up with his folded legal paper, reads mostly a non-descript text describing his life turnaround, his coming up from the ashes.  The audience gets he is not a well bred speaker, but he speaks from the heart.  He then ends with perhaps the most compelling words, that the audience would probably not forget: "Because Fr. Greg and Homeboy Industries believed in me, I decided to believe in myself.  And the best way I can think of payin' 'em back is by changing my life.  And that's exactly what I've decided to do  (p. 105)."  The crowd gives the boy a standing ovation although he thought it was for Fr. Greg Boyle, and not himself. Elias' road to healing was underway. Elias came to realize a vision with a wider view.

Then rise again from ashes,
let healing come to pain;
Though spring has turned to winter,
and sunshine turned to rain.
The rain we'll use for growing,
and create the world anew,
From an offering of ashes,
An offering to You.

Homeboy HQ

Another story related by Fr. Boyle is that of a Homie who has no family.  When Fr. Boyle asked what he did for Christmas he noted that he invited five other Homies from the crew over for dinner and made a turkey, which he says was prepared "Ghetto-style".  He prepared only a turkey.   What is crucial is that they were from rival gangs, who in an earlier life would have been shooting each other.  Miguel, the boy who prepared the turkey, says " Yeah, the six of us just sat there, staring at the oven, waiting for the turkey to be done." (p. 88)  Fr Boyle comments that "One would be hard-pressed to imagine something more sacred and ordinary than six orphans staring at an oven together." (p 88)  Fr. Boyle asks Miguel how he does it with all the pain and suffering he has experienced.  Miguel responds, ""You know, I always suspected that there was something of goodness in me, but I just couldn't find it.  Until one day,' -he quiets a bit-'I discovered it here in my heart.  I found it...goodness. And ever since that day I have always known who I was.'" (p 89)   Miguel had grown.   

... Thanks be to the Father,
who made us like Himself.
... Thanks be to His Son,
who saved us by His death.
... Thanks be to the Spirit,
who creates the world anew,
From an offering of ashes,
An offering to You.

What is present in this book is what Pope Francis has called the harmony of redemption.  The sad thing is that gang wars and resentment still present themselves in terrible ways,  and too many persons are gunned down for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or some aspect of a past they had left behind caught up with them from a rival gang.  Fr. Boyle fully understands that it is difficult to measure success, because there is the "daily dread of setbacks (p. 167).  Fr. Boyle notes the young men and women need to want to help themselves.  He notes that it is difficult for them to look to the future, likely because their present is so bleak; he comments that gang members are young people that are in an exclusive group planning not their future but their funerals.  But, Fr. Boyle also notes that the key to Homeboy Industries is not the counseling or job training, but it is about healing. It is, as he says, about accompaniment. The Homies have offered their failures and their attempts.  If healed they will redirect their path.  Many have risen from the ashes.

Homie working at the Homegirl Cafe

The last chapter of his book is entitled "Kinship" and begins with the following sentence:  "Mother Teresa diagnosed the world's ills in this way: we've just 'forgotten that we belong to each other' "(p. 187).  A simple yet elegant expression showing the need for all to belong to one kinship, as all are created in the likeness and image of God.  Good words to ponder in our present time.  Fr. Boyle demonstrates the power of compassion and getting young gang members to believe in themselves.  In that sense, he gets them to hit notes which they thought were out of their range.  In other words, these young people have risen from the ashes and made their lives anew.  Thanks be to the Spirit who creates life anew.

Note:
Homeboy Industries, is explained on their website as:

Homeboy Industries provides hope, training, and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated men and women allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of our community. Each year over 10,000 former gang members from across Los Angeles come through Homeboy Industries’ doors in an effort to make a positive change. They are welcomed into a community of mutual kinship, love, and a wide variety of services ranging from tattoo removal to anger management and parenting classes. Full-time employment is offered for more than 200 men and women at a time through an 18-month program that helps them re-identify who they are in the world, offers job training so they can move on from Homeboy Industries and become contributing members of the community - knowing they count!

Homeboy has become a blueprint for more than 250 social enterprises in the US and sixteen other countries.  

Source:  Boyle, Greg. 2010.  Tattoos on the Heart: the Power of Boundless Compassion.  Free Press, NY NY.

Images from Google Images.