Jesuit priest Greg Boyle will deliver this year’sAlice Pope Shade Lecturebased off the title of his latest book,Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, in the Degenstein Center Theater at 体育买球官网 University. The event, which is free and open to the public, will also include book sales prior to the lecture and a book signing afterward.
Boyle has dedicated his life to helping Los Angeles’ most marginalized individuals find a place in society’s ranks. Having witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence in the 1980s, Boyle foundedHomeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation and reentry program in the world. He and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. Each year the organization welcomes 10,000 people through its doors in downtown LA.
Boyle has become a beacon of hope around the world, inspiring others with his work. In 2017, he received the University of Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal and published his second book,Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship.In 2014, President Barack Obama selected Boyle as one of the Champions of Change, and in 2024, President Joe Biden awarded Boyle the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
About the Alice Pope Shade Lecture
Each year, the Department ofReligious Studiessponsors a lecture by a nationally and internationally renowned religious scholar or leader. The lectures typically explore the role religion plays in various aspects of public life: civic, social, spiritual, political, moral, environmental, and in terms of the formation of individual character. Lecturers are selected on the basis of their scholarship and their ability to engage students and members of the community meaningfully.
