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Book Review: Tattoos on the Heart

Winner of the 2010 SCIBA Book Award for Nonfiction Best Books of 2010: Publishers Weekly

In this artful, disquieting, yet surprisingly jubilant memoir, Jesuit priestBoyle recounts his two decades of working with homies in Los AngelesCounty, which contains 1,100 gangs with nearly 86,000 members. . . . Frommoving vignettes about gangsters breaking into tears or finding themselvesworthy of love and affirmation, to moments of spiritual reflection andsidesplittingly funny banter between him and the homies, Boyle creates aconvincing and even joyful treatise on the sacredness of every life.Considering that he has buried more than 150 young people from gang-related violence, the joyful tenor of the book remains an astounding literaryand spiritual feat.

A set of stories that will stir many emotions. They will leave youdumbfounded at the power of love and compassion to break down high wallsbuilt by anger and pain. America magazine

Tattoos On The Heart Book Review

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Tattoos on the Heart Book Review ayjames2301 The book I read to better understand and gain sympathytor returning citizens is Tattoos on The Heart: The power of Boundless Compassion by Father Gregory Boyle. s. J. $14 tan afford this 240- page autobiography about a Jesuit priest serving one of the most troubled neighborhoods in the most unique way. FL goyle, ordained as a priest in 1982, began his work in Los Angeles, California in 1988 after noticing how the rampant criminal activities were breaking apart the community and families.

Through relentless effort. boundless compassion, nd the help of some key people, he was able to found Homeboy Industries. The youth program provides employment and support services to former gang members and high-risk youth. He received the California Peace Prize, the humanitarian of the Year Award from gon Appétit, the Caring Institutes 2007 Most Caring people Award, and 2008 Civic Medal of Honor trom the Los Angeles Chamber Of Commerce. I In 2010. is book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power Of Boundless Compassion was published and joined the New York Times Bestseller The book is a collection ot stories that FL goyle experienced or heard during is time with Homeboy Industries, He explicitly tells in the preface he does not want the book to be a memoir or a How to deal with gangs book.

Boyle ran into, He can only tell us what happened and what he hoped at the time, but we

On An Early Saturday Morning Several Members Of An Enemy Gang With

Life, after unspeakable loss, becoming poetry again. In this together, twobrothers, locked arms, delighting in the view from up here. Thomas Merton writes, No despair of ours can alter the reality of things,or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there . . . We are invitedto forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and joinin the general dance. The cosmic dance is simply always happening, andyoull want to be there when it happens. For it is there in the birth of yourfirst child, in roundhouse bagging, in watching your crew eat, in an owlssurprising appearance, and in a digested frog. Rascally inventions ofholiness aboundingtoday, awaiting the attention of our delight. Yes, yes,yes. God so loved the world that He thought wed find the poetry in it. Music.Nothing playing.

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Greg describes how reporters and other guests are often scared and wary when visiting his community. Now that you know the homies stories, would you feel comfortable working alongside them at Homeboy Bakery or ordering a cup of coffee at the Homegirl Cafe?

The book is organized around stories that read like parables of faith. What did these stories teach you about kinship, compassion, redemption, and mercy? How are some of these key lessons applicable to your own daily life?

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At Camp Paige A County Detention Facility Near Glendora I Was Getting To

Behold the One beholding you and smiling. It is precisely because we havesuch an overactive disapproval gland ourselves that we tend to create God inour own image. It is truly hard for us to see the truth that disapproval does notseem to be part of Gods DNA. God is just too busy loving us to have anytime left for disappointment.

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With That Moon Language

Open Book and Heart

Everyone you see, you say to them, Love me. Of course you do not do this out loud Otherwise, Someone would call the cops. Still though, think about this, This great pull in us to connect. Why not become the one Who lives with a full moon in each eye That is always saying What every other eye in this world Is dying to 1

God, I Guess

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No Question Gets Asked Of Me More Than Whats It Like To Have Enemies

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Close both eyes see with the other one. Then, we are no longer saddled bythe burden of our persistent judgments, our ceaseless withholding, ourconstant exclusion. Our sphere has widened, and we find ourselves, quiteunexpectedly, in a new, expansive location, in a place of endless acceptanceand infinite love. Weve wandered into Gods own jurisdiction. 7

Gladness

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Moreno Now Works At The Reception Center In Our Brand

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One day, Im looking for a runnera homie to take a message to someoneelse in the building. I look up from my desk and see two homies in the well. I spot Mario and Frankie, two big homies, staring at acomputer screen intently working . Im about to call Frankie to be my runner, when I observe him leaninto Marios chest and take a deep, deep breath. He exhales contentedly. Frankie, come here a minute, I yell at him from my office innersanctum. He looks cookie-jar startled. Embarrassed, he runs to my office. Ihand him the message and instruct him to go to the financial office. He inchestoward the door to leave but then turns around, sheepish and tentative. Uh, G . . . uh, did you see me . . . right now . . . you know . . . smellingMario? I admit that I had. Damn, Frankie huffs and puffs, I mean, its just that . . . well . . . he besmellin GOOOOD. I mean . . . all the homies . . . we be likin his cologne.Breathe it in, breathe it out. The Lord is everything I want. A yes that meansyes. You want to be there when the poetry happens. Isaiah has God say: Beglad forever and rejoice in what I create . . . for I create my people to be adelight. God thinking wed enjoy ourselves. Delighting is what occupiesGod, and Gods hope is that we join in. That Gods joy may be in us and thisjoy may be complete. We just happen to be Gods joy. That takes somegetting used to.

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These essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love and the importance of fighting despair. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.

–“The Los Angeles Times

“Destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality.”

–“The Los Angeles Times

“”A spiritual masterpiece touching the innermost sanctum of the human soul. Boyle approaches each person as a child of God and fully deserving of love and compassion. His capacity to reach the heart of the most hardened, and to see the best in everyone, inspires. I laughed, wept, and underlined on virtually every page.”

–KERRY KENNEDY, FOUNDER OF THE RFK CENTER FOR JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS”An astonishing book . . . about suffering and dignity, death and resurrection, one of my favorite books in years. It is lovely and tough and tender beyond my ability to describe and left me in tears of both sorrow and laughter.”–ANNE LAMOTT, AUTHOR OF GRACE “An extraordinary reflection of a life totally committed to reshaping and redirecting the lives of countless young gang members , Greg Boyle’s Tattoos on the Heart proves one man with courage is a majority.” –MARTIN SHEEN”Father Boyle reminds us all that every single child and youth is a part of God’s ‘jurisdiction’–and when they know that we are seeing them as God does, they are capable of great things. Father Boyle is a national treasure.”

Publishers Weeklyfeb 8 2010

Father Gregory Boyle and “Tattoos On the Heart”

In this artful, disquieting, yet surprisingly jubilant memoir, Jesuit priest Boyle recounts his two decades of working with homies in Los Angeles County, which contains 1,100 gangs with nearly 86,000 members. Boyle s Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention program in the country, offering job training, tattoo removal, and employment to members of enemy gangs. Effectively straddling the debate regarding where the responsibility for urban violence lies, Boyle both recounts the despair of watching the kids you love cooperate in their own demise and levels the challenge to readers to stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it. From moving vignettes about gangsters breaking into tears or finding themselves worthy of love and affirmation, to moments of spiritual reflection and sidesplittingly funny banter between him and the homies, Boyle creates a convincing and even joyful treatise on the sacredness of every life. Considering that he has buried more than 150 young people from gang-related violence, the joyful tenor of the book remains an astounding literary and spiritual feat.

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I Met Anthony Through Legendary Eastside Probation Officer Mary Ridgway

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The first wedding I ever did was in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was a humbleQuechua couple, and the Mass was in the main Jesuit church in the center oftown. Standing room only with Quechua Indians in their absolute finestclothes. Quechua cholas in brightly colored hoopy skirts and shawls, withtiny bowler hats perched, at a tilt, on top of their pinched-back hair. Men insuits with white collars, unspeakably wide and starched, craning their necksbeyond what seems natural. Communion time arrives, and I go to the couple. They refuse to receive communion. I beg them. They will not budge. I goto the congregation and invite them to receive communion. Not one personcomes forward. I beg and plead, but no one steps up. I discover later, with thehelp of some Jesuit scholastics, that the Indians sense of culturaldisparagement and toxic shame was total. Since the time of the Conquista,when the Spaniards converted the Indians, they baptized them, but no roofsever got ripped open. This was to be their placeoutside of communionforever. Maybe we call this the opposite of God.

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Natalie Came To Work In Our Organization After Keeping Up A Fairly Regular

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Gangs are bastions of conditional loveone false move, and you findyourself outside. Slights are remembered, errors in judgment held against youforever. If a homie doesnt step up to the plate, perform the required duty, hecan be relegated to no good status. This is a state from which it is hard torecover. Homeboy Industries seeks to be a community of unconditional love.Community will always trump gang any day. Derek Walcott writes, Either I am a nobody or I am a nation. Our place at Homeboy is this touchstone of resilience. You discover yourtrue self in this nation. Homies who used to work at Homeboy alwaysreturn on their days off or on their lunch break. A homie said to me once, Ijust came by to get my fix. Of what? I ask him. Love, he says. Everyone is just looking to be told that who he or she is is right and trueand wholly acceptable. No need to tinker and tweak. Exactly right.

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Gangs And Gang Violence

In the Dolores Mission neighborhood of Los Angeles where Father Gregory Boyle works, violence is a constant dangerthe city has a long history of racial discrimination, police brutality, and drug trafficking. Boyle argues that people join gangs not because theyre inherently violent people, but because they dont see themselves as having any good alternative to the supposed security and emotional support that gangs and gang culture provide. While Boyle doesnt give an insiders look at

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