Hi Derek,

Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest. His ministry is a gang intervention in Boyle Heights in L.A. apparently the gang capital of the world. I thought of it when Kristi mentioned the compassion she experienced working with inmates. This priest is O so brave & Christ- like, measuring out tough love spiked with the tenderness of Christ. I loved it. The pages are filled with story after story of gang members getting out of the lifestyle and how Christ transforms their lives. It is funny, sad and dark, really just a remarkable story of God's love for the wounded. Disturbing too!

"Considering that he (Gregory Boyle) has buried more than 150 young people from gang related violence, the joyful tenor of the book remains an astounding literary and spiritual feat."
-Publishers Weekly Starred Review

I cannot do it justice, I am not a writer, perhaps you will add this to your pile of books to blog/review

Love this quote he used: "It's when we face for a moment the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know the taint in our own selves, that awe cracks the mind's shell and enters the heart."
Denise Levertov

Thanks, Gail. That does sound like my kind of book.