There is a story told by the theologian Lawrence Cunningham, former chairman of the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame, about a student who came to him to sign up for a freshman theology course. The student explained that he was an atheist. He would do the course work, but he didn’t believe in God. He wanted to know if that would be held against him in the course. Professor Cunningham asked him what it was that he didn’t believe. The student explained that he didn’t believe that there was a guy with a long white beard who judged people according to some rules and sent them to eternal reward or eternal torture. Professor Cunningham responded that he didn’t believe that either. He asked the student to continue on with the list of beliefs or non-beliefs that caused him to call himself an atheist. The professor continued with the same response of agreement that he had given earlier. The student was beginning to wonder if the professor was an atheist. Finally, the professor asked the student, “Is there anything that you would be willing to give up your life to protect?” The student thought for a moment and said, “Yes. I would give up my life to protect my family, those who I love.” The professor smiled. “So, your greatest value is love. That is exactly what this course is about. That is exactly what Christianity is about. You will do fine in the course.”
Another story…Karl Rahner SJ was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. Much of his time after World War II was spent teaching at the University of Munich (Germany). One of his students had experienced a loss of faith during the war and asked Rahner to recommend a good book that would help him find his faith once more. The theologian took a scrap of paper and wrote something down, folded it and handed it to the student, who thanked him and left the theologian’s office. In the hall the student unfolded the paper and read what was written. It wasn’t the title of a book. It was the address of the City Mission, Munich’s equivalent of Karidat.
Rahner knew that faith…a personal relationship with God…wasn’t to be found in books but in service to others. In such service, in relationship with others, one experienced love. It was in the practical experience of love that one encountered God.
Fr. Greg Boyle SJ was ordained to the priesthood in 1984, the same year that I was ordained as a permanent deacon. A Jesuit from Los Angeles, as a young priest he was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission after a year of ministry in the barrios of Bolivia. Fr. Boyle describes Los Angeles as the most gang infested city in the world and Dolores Mission as the heart of the most troubled part of Los Angeles. Within a week or so of moving into the mission, he experienced his first gang related funeral. The funerals continue.
It didn’t take long to realize that the young people in the neighborhood were not in school, as most had been kicked out for behavior problems with which the educational system didn’t want to deal. He asked a bunch of the kids hanging around the neighborhood if they would be willing to go to school if he could get them accepted. He was surprised that just about everyone wanted to be in school. So, off he went to speak to educational officials but with little success. There was an old school building as part of the parish. A community of religious sisters were using the third floor of the school as a convent. So, Fr. Boyle spoke with the sisters and asked if they would move out. They agreed. Through the kindness of the sisters, partial funding by donors and a lot of hard work, the priest was able to open the school to the youngsters whom no one else would accept.
Once the school was operational the priest turned to the needs of the students’ older brothers and sisters, who were in desperate need of jobs. Because many of these young people had police records and gang histories, the priest found it very difficult to find them jobs. So, as he looked out the window of the rectory he saw an old bakery building for sale across the street. He found out what it cost and called up a friendly Hollywood producer, asking him to buy the bakery. The priest was persuasive. Before long the parish opened “Homeboy Bakery” and hired many of the neighborhood gang members to work in the bakery. It proved to be a great success. In the years that followed Fr. Boyle established “Homeboy Industries” in the neighborhood, which included a variety of local businesses employing and run by former gang members. The effort included counseling and a support system for all the former gang members who found employment with the project. Over the years it as become the most successful gang intervention program in the world and won numerous awards.
What is the secret of their success? Kinship!
Sociologists talk about “in-group” and “out-groups”. It is how humans form community and establish identity. My group shapes my sense of who I am. If you are not a member of my group, then you are part of that other group that is different from me. It is this phenomenon that is the foundation for school rivalries, healthy competition, nations, wars and gang violence.
It is very common for gang members to have experience an outrageous amount of suffering by the time they are teens. Many have histories of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse as children. They often come from dysfunctional family situations that leave them numb. Those around them tell them that they are worthless, failures and a burden. This may be their parents, school officials or even politicians (think of Trump’s reference to gang members as “animals”) They hear this garbage so often that they believe it. Once they believe it, they act on that belief. It has been the experience of Fr. Boyle that young people join gangs out of a sense of despair. The gang members are others with whom they can share their hopelessness. As well as find protection from the violence of life on the streets, even if it occasionally encourages violence toward other gangs.
A big part of Fr. Boyle’s strategy with the Homeboy Industries is to break down the gang-based in-group/out-group mentality by creating new groups based in a sense of hope. The main setting for these new groups is the workplace. If a young gang member is going to be part of Homeboy Industries he must be willing to work alongside young people who come from rival gangs. The jobs provide income and a sense of dignity and accomplishment for the young people. They experience hope. Working together with former enemies helps them to see a degree of kinship between themselves and their former enemies. Eventually, they no longer see enemies but co-workers and friends. A sense of kinship develops. Another word for kinship is love. Does this always work? The answer Fr. Boyle gives is a resounding “yes!”.