Disarm Now Plowshares: Bill “Bix” Bichsel back to prison

[bananas]

http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/3458/

Bix & Community: We Are Called!
Posted on November 10, 2011 by Disarm Now Plowshares

Dear Friends,

The bright sun streamed through the windows of Jean’s House of Prayer today as roughly fifty people crowded together in prayer, song, faith, hope and community. We came together in honor of our dear friend and co-conspirator in the struggle, Bill “Bix” Bichsel before he reported to SeaTac Federal Detention Center to begin serving his sentence for the Y-12 resistane action.

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Diane Whalen, the first female priest in Washington ordained by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, was invited to lead the remainder of the service. She began by inviting everyone to call out the names of those who were present in that space with us. The already crowded house overflowed as a litany of names rang out: Jackie Hudson, Chief Leschi, Dorothy Day, Susan Crane, Anne Montgomery, Mother Teresa, Liz McAlister, Martin Luther King, Rachel Corrie, Phil and Daniel Berrigan, Chief Seattle, Steve Kelly… The spirit of both the living and the dead were fully present with us.

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After a blessing by Senji Kanaeda from the Bainbridge Island Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple and a rousing chorus of The Ballad of Disarm Now Plowshares (No, Nay, Never) , Bix said many goodbyes before walking out to the waiting car. He was smiling all the way.

Although Bix will be in prison for three months his spirit, just like all those spirits present with us today, will be with us both individually and collectively. I can already hear him calling to us through those thick SeaTac Prison walls – calling us, in Jackie Hudson’s immortal words, to take a step (or even a half step) outside our comforts zones.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Bichsel,_S.J.

William J. Bichsel, S.J. (Nicknamed "Bix")is Jesuit Priest in Tacoma, Washington, United States. He is notable for his actions as a non-violent protester, spending time in federal prison for demonstrating on issues such as Nuclear Weapons, and the School of the Americas.<1>

Biography

Bill Bichsel was born in 1929, and ordained as a priest in 1959. He was assigned to St. Leo's Parish in Tacoma, Wash. 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 to work in the Guadelupe House shelter, a Catholic Worker house.<2>

Protesting

Bichsel is a non-violent activist, and has served prison time for his protesting. He was arrested for protesting at the Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor, Washington while serving at St. Leo's in the 70's. He served various sentences in King County and Lompac, CA.<3> In 1996, Bichsel served one year in federal prison for protesting at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga. <4> Recently, he was sentenced, along with four other protesters, to two months in federal prison for breaking through two levels of security at the Naval Base Kitsap to protest. The protesters broke through undetected to a bunker where nuclear weapons were stored, to spill blood, pray, and hang posters in opposition to the weapons.<5> In 2011, he was arrested again for trespassing on the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN. <6>