Founder of gang rehab and re-entry program, Homeboy Industries
Vermont Business Magazine Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J., the founder of the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, will deliver the Commencement address at Saint Michael’s College to the Class of 2025.
Fr. Boyle, whose program is based in Los Angeles, California, will also receive an honorary degree during the ceremony on May 11, 2025. The College’s 118th Commencement Ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in the Ross Sports Center.
Two additional honorary degrees will be awarded during the ceremony as well, recognizing an individual and a group who have devoted their lives and careers to service, leadership and philanthropy. Those honorary degree recipients are the music group Phish and the founder of Dismas of Vermont, Rita Whalen McCaffrey.
“All three of our honorary degree recipients reflect the many paths through which one can lead a life of meaning — through ministry, music, advocacy, and everyday acts of courage,” said Saint Michael’s College President Richard Plumb, Ph.D. “Fr. Boyle, Rita, and the band members of Phish have time and again used their time and talents in service of others. We are thrilled to be honoring them for the profound impacts they’ve had on our society, and we hope our graduates find inspiration from them.”
About Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J.
From 1986 to 1992, Fr. Gregory Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles. The parish also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city. During this time, Fr. Boyle witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community, so he and his parish and other communities teamed up to start what would eventually become Homeboy Industries.
Homeboy Industries has become the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world – a global model for restorative justice. Resources provided include an 18-month employment and re-entry program, tattoo removal services, substance abuse resources, and other free wraparound services that promote healing and growth. With a ministry rooted in radical kinship, Boyle has worked tirelessly to dismantle cycles of violence and incarceration by fostering community, education, and economic opportunity.
Boyle is the author of several books, including Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion and Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship. President Barack Obama named Boyle a “Champion of Change” in 2014, and President Joe Biden awarded Boyle the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024.
About Phish
Phish – Trey Anastasio (guitar, vocals), Jon Fishman (drums, vocals), Mike Gordon (bass, vocals), and Page McConnell (keyboards, vocals) – has earned one of music’s most dedicated fan communities for its blend of idiosyncratic songcraft, extended improvisation, and immersive live performances, all fusing a variety of genres into their own freewheeling sound and vision. Formed in 1983 in Burlington, Vermont, Phish has released 16 studio albums and has played over 2,000 shows since their formation, regularly selling out multiple nights at arenas, amphitheaters, and stadiums across North America.
Phish founded The WaterWheel Foundation to oversee the band’s various charitable activities, harnessing the kindness of the Phish fan community to create positive change. In 2024, Phish raised $4M in support of the Divided Sky Foundation, the non-profit addiction recovery organization started by Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, and its recently opened facility in Ludlow, VT.
(Please note, the members of Phish are being recognized for their artistic and philanthropic contributions with an honorary degree and will not be performing during the Commencement ceremony.)
About Rita Whalen McCaffrey
Rita Whalen McCaffrey is the founder of Dismas of Vermont, Inc., which provides transitional housing and community support to the formerly incarcerated. Under her vision and care, what began as one home grew into a network of five Dismas Houses across Vermont – in Burlington, Winooski, Rutland and Hartford.
McCaffrey, a 1959 graduate of Trinity College of Vermont, has dedicated her life to restorative justice and providing second chances to those who are leaving incarceration. A close friend, Rev. Arthur Kirwin ’57, was instrumental in sparking McCaffrey’s interest in prison ministry 50 years ago. In the early 1980s, McCaffrey and her husband, the Honorable Francis B. McCaffrey ’58, visited Tennessee and were introduced to a transitional housing model there. They saw a similar need in Vermont, and with the support of prisoners, students, community volunteers, and the Vermont Department of Corrections, the first Dismas House opened in Burlington in 1986 – using the same transitional housing model the McCaffreys witnessed in Tennessee.
Today, the five Dismas Houses in Vermont, including one dedicated to women, provide structure, support, and compassion to people living within the community. Their mission is reconciliation — to repair the harm done by the crime committed as well as the alienation that can result from incarceration — and to restore wholeness.
More information about the 118th Commencement at Saint Michael’s College can be found at smcvt.edu/outcomes/commencement.
About Saint Michael’s College
Saint Michael's College, founded on principles of social justice and leading lives of purpose and consequence, is a selective, Catholic college just outside Burlington, Vermont, one of the country's best college towns. Located between the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain, our closely connected community guarantees housing all four years and delivers internationally respected liberal arts together with an innovative Purposeful Learning Program, preparing students for fulfilling careers and meaningful lives. Young adults here grow intellectually, socially, and morally, learning to be responsible for themselves, each other, and their world.