For the past three years, Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest and writer of Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, has visited John Marshall High School to speak to Ms. Semon and Mr. Finn’s expository composition class. With every visit, he brings two homies from his program “Homeboy Industries”, a rehabilitation program for gang members which also happens to be the largest rehabilitation institution in the world, to relay their life stories to the young students in the audience.
The two homies he brought with him, Greg and Rafeyel, both spoke about their lives and how they found themselves at Homeboy Industries.
When asked about what inspired him to write his book, Fr. Boyle stated, “Well because I’ve been telling all those stories in juvenile halls and detention facilities for a lot of years, somebody said, ‘you should write these down’. So that’s what I did.” Tattoos on the Heart is a book that captures the experiences and journey of Father Boyle from his beginning at Dolores Mission Catholic Church to helping those who’d been marginalized and giving them a second chance to live how they want to. It also teaches multiple lessons along the way and can broaden one’s horizons
When asked about the goal of the visit, Ms. Semon told reporters, “I hope that students will learn the importance of change, slow work, community and kinship, which were all addressed in the book.” She also hopes that students will learn that while making a connection.
“I hope that students will learn the importance of change, slow work, community and kinship”, which were all addressed in the book.
She also hopes that students will learn that while making a connection, the real world and the author, will show students multiple perspectives just from doing their own reading and thought process.
Our reporters also asked Mr. Finn, “What is the importance of Father Boyle coming to Marshall to speak to the students?” In response he answered, “… work that Father Boyle has done over the last four decades now, is so uniquely Los Angeles, its origins are uniquely Los Angeles and now it is a story that’s told across the nation and even the globe.” Following this, he thinks it’s also important because he, Father Boyle, continues to come back to Marshall every year because Marshall students consistently give him the best questions and overall experiences that he now shares with homies that are now in his program in Homeboy Industries.
