Commencement Speaker Rev. Greg Boyle, S.J.: People change when they are cherished |

Rev. Greg Boyle, S.J., STM ’86, the Jesuit priest who founded the renowned Los Angeles-based gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program, Homeboy Industries, addressed the class of 2023 on Saturday, June 17, 2023 in Stevens Stadium.
Showing obvious affection for the former gang members with whom he works on a daily basis, Boyle shared stories of times he couldn’t see how gang members could possibly change-but with love and acceptance, they did.
Quoting the poet Rumi, he said, “‘If the house of the world is dark, then love will find a way to make windows.’ Windows are those transparent things through which we see mystically, through which we see as God sees, from the confines of those places where we get stuck and are annoyed, impatient, and want to win the argument.”
He told the graduates, “Be in the world who God is-compassionate, loving, kind. We know that systems change when people change, and people change when they are cherished.”
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Wonderful speech. Thank you Fr. Boyle!