Jesuit priest and peace activist, Father Bill Bichsel, is currently being held in solitary confinement at SeaTac Federal Detention Center just south of Seattle, WA. Eighty three year old Bichsel had not eaten solid food since being thrown in solitary confinement January 10 in protest though voluntarily ended his fast on the 25th. Still more than two weeks fasting must take its toll on anyone his age.
Bichsel reminds Christians to unite in conscience where God speaks to all of us to abolish nuclear weapons and to oppose those policies of the US, such as continuing to manufacture nuclear weapons while talking disarmament, that are without conscience.
We are all called to be Peace-makers, but how many of us are really willing to pay the price?
"Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes—crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure—reach the light of day?...
Each man wants to be exonerated of a guilt of this kind, each one continues on his way with the most placid, the calmest conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty." -- The White Rose, 1942 - 43.
Fr. Bichsel, known to friends and colleagues as “Bix,” is a member of the Disarm Now Plowshares group. He has been arrested several times in connection with nonviolent civil disobedience at military bases, nuclear weapons manufacturers, and the School of the Americas. Most recently, he served a three-month sentence at SeaTac for a July 2010 action at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, future site of a new nuclear weapons plant.
On January 10, Bichsel was moved to a halfway house in Tacoma. He was told that the facility had a rule prohibiting visitors for the first 72 hours but on the evening of his arrival, a pair of Buddhist monks and a small group of students stopped by the house Fr. Bichsel was in to drum and pray for him outside the building.
(Bichsel) was very happy to see and hear all who came to visit and wanted either to invite everyone in or go out and be with them. He had a strong sense they were angels, which gave him intense joy. He went onto comment that “it was so right they should be there.”
His captors on the other hand had a slightly different experience. First reprimanding him for being out of compliance (whatever that meant), he was told he was going to be “written up” and what happened was to be “reported.” The rest is history – in early morning he was suddenly awakened, grabbed out of bed, shackled, and returned to SeaTac by the marshals.
Their actions and manner of treatment made it known to him how he would proceed. Upon his arrival at SeaTac he made it clear he intended to be in complete non compliance with their demands; their recourse, which was to be expected, would be to place him in “protective custody or the special housing unit (SHU)”…“the hole”...
“I was asked by the Lieutenant at SeaTac, ‘Why are you doing this?’ I answered, ‘Conscience.’ She responded, ‘This has nothing to do with conscience – this is a matter of policy.’ I replied, ‘You said it well – you have divorced policy from conscience.’”
Contact Warden William Jusino at the contact information below or your government representatives concerning humane care for Father Bill Bichsel.
Governor Chris Gregoire, Wa. State
Warden William Jusino
FDC SEATAC
FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER
2425 SOUTH 200TH STREET
SEATTLE, WA 98198
Phone: 206-870-5700
E-mail: SET/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
For more information on Fr. Bix and additional contacts (scroll down to the bottom) link here, and here.
To send a message of support directly to Fr. Bichsel try the prison address listed here.
“It is with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential, is invisible to the eyes” ~ The Little Prince