Bill Bichsel was ordained in Berlin, West Germany, in 1959 after three years of theology in Frankfurt, Germany. The only test he passed his first year in theology was a tuberculosis test.
In 1969 Father Bichsel was assigned to St. Leo’s Parish in Tacoma, Washington. There he worked among the homeless at the Martin Luther King Center, and, following the principles and practices of non-violence, was arrested for the first time at the Trident Submarine Base in Bangor, Washington. His arrest at the base led to his serving different jail times at King County and a four-month sentence at Lompoc, California.
Having completed his assignment at St. Leo’s, he hitchhiked around the nation for six months. Then he worked with Greg Galluzzo and Rod Herold, former members of the Society of Jesus, as a community organizer in Seattle. He came back to Tacoma in 1979, “looking for community,” and began working with Sr. Ann Flagg, CSJP, who took in homeless people at Guadalupe House shelter. Their work focused on meeting the needs of people with mental illnesses. “I fit very well there,” Bichsel said.
In 1989, with the help of Kevin Glackin-Coley, Guadalupe House became a Catholic Worker House, where, following the tradition established by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day, the Tacoma Catholic Workers (TCW), invite the homeless to live with them and share their brokenness and hope. “Community is what a Catholic Worker House is about,” he continued. “In this setting, personal relationships and friendship are more important than achievement.”
Father Bichsel and other members of the TCW oppose the trident submarine base at Bangor where, very possibly, the largest stockpile of deployable nuclear weapons in the world is stored. The Catholic Worker Community feels it is their responsibility to actively oppose this death pile of hopelessness which is scarcely 50 miles away and they frequently participate in demonstrations there.
On May 14, 2006, Fr. Bichsel received an honorary degree, Doctor of Human Service, at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. In comments made at that ceremony, Fr. Bichsel was described as a “man of God, man of conviction, man of the streets, and man of the people,” who has “bestowed honor on the least among us.”