William Jerome Bichsel, S.J. (May 26, 1928 – February 28, 2015), nicknamed "Bix", was a Jesuit priest in Tacoma,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States. He is notable for his actions as a

non-violent protest Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, const ...

er, spending time in federal prison for actions to promote social justice and

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space * Nuclea ...

and was deeply engaged in the effort to close the

School of the Americas The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas, is a United States Department of Defense school located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, renamed in the 2001 National Defen ...

. He died February 28, 2015, of heart disease in Tacoma, Washington.

Biography

Fr. Bill Bichsel (Bix) was born in Tacoma in 1928 and ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1959. Bix's parents were George and Sarah Bichsel, and he had 6 siblings, includin
Tom Bichsel
of Alaska. He was assigned to St. Leo Parish in Tacoma, Washington. After completing his assignment there, Bichsel hitchhiked around the nation for 6 months and then worked as a community organizer in Seattle. In 1979, he returned to Tacoma where remained until his death. Bix lived a life of community building, civil resistance, and peacemaking. His "parish" was the streets of the Hilltop neighborhood in Tacoma.

Civil resistance and peacemaking

Bichsel was a non-violent activist who served prison time for his actions of criminal trespassing, destruction of government property, and criminal resistance. He was arrested more than 40 times and spent nearly two and a half years in prison. He was arrested for an action at the

Naval Base Kitsap Naval Base Kitsap is a U.S. Navy base located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state, created in 2004 by merging the former Naval Station Bremerton with Naval Submarine Base Bangor. It is the home base for the Navy’s fleet throughout ...

in Bangor, Washington while serving at Saint Leo's in the 1970s. He served various sentences in King County and Lompoc, California. In 1996, Bichsel served a year in federal prison for protesting at the

in Fort Benning, Georgia. Bix, Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald, Steve Kelly, S.J., and Anne Montgomery RSCJ, were arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor at the largest nuclear weapon storage area in the US. He was sentenced, along with four other protesters, to two months in federal prison for breaking through two levels of security at the

to protest. The protesters attempted to break through to a bunker where nuclear weapons were stored, to spill blood, pray, plant sunflowers, and hang posters in opposition to the weapons, but were stopped. In 2011, he was arrested again for trespassing on the

Y-12 National Security Complex The Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was built as part of the Manhattan Proje ...

in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He was sentenced to three months in a federal jail near

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

. He was held in solitary confinement for at least part of his sentence. Bichsel was released on February 9, 2012.William Jerome Bichsel, inmate # 86275-020,Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Dep't of Justice, a

Bix and Kevin Glackin-Coley established The Tacoma

Catholic Worker ''Catholic Worker'' is a newspaper published seven times a year by the flagship Catholic Worker community in New York City. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin to make people aware of church teaching on social justice. His ...

community at Guadalupe House in 1990.

External links

* Interview discussing Nov. 2, 2009, Bangor actio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bichsel, William J., S.J. 1928 births American Roman Catholic priests American anti–nuclear weapons activists Nonviolence advocates 2015 deaths American Jesuits