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Father Bill doesn’t look the type to have been arrested 224 times. Appearances, however, are not on O’Donnell’s list of concerns.  

Instead, social injustice, poverty and crime are the priest’s top priorities, and struggling to alleviate these social ills through a life of activism has landed the 72-year-old in jail a number of times. 

Following one of his most high-profile acts of civil disobedience last year, this month O’Donnell was given one of his strictest sentencing – six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. 

O’Donnell was one of 36 people convicted for trespassing at Fort Benning, Ga., the site of a U.S. Army school where, protesters say, foreign officers are taught assassination techniques. 

“After 9-11, the government said we had to destroy all camps of terror, and so we’re starting with this one,” O’Donnell said calmly.  

He is home, waiting to serve time at a prison near Merced. 

The start date of his imprisonment remains undetermined. 

The soft spoken priest has typically served one- or two-week sentences, but never six months. O’Donnell says that federal Judge Mallon Faircloth made an example of him. 

“It’s pretty obvious that they’re trying to deter others from ever attending another demonstration there,” O’Donnell 

Despite the specter of upcoming jail time, the O’Donnell has remained upbeat and committed to his work. Recently, the local priest was part of protests for worker’s rights at the Claremont Hotel and a supporter of nuclear disarmament at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

“He’s a saint,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington said. “He’s an earnest and passionate advocate for the dispossessed of every variety.” 

A native of Altamont, O’Donnell has spent the last 29 years at St. Joseph’s The Worker Church in central Berkeley.  

O’Donnell has been recognized for his work with the local Latino community. His efforts include involving Latino parents and children in schools and working to set up meetings between African American and Latino parents to discuss race relations. 

“He has really embraced diversity as a way of bringing people together,” said Eugenia Bowman, executive director of the Berkeley Community Fund. “He’s someone who’s committed to social justice. His jail time is a shining example of his commitment.” 

O’Donnell is this year’s recipient of the Berkeley Community Award, an honor presented to people committed to community improvement. Because of his jail sentence, however, O’Donnell will likely miss the ceremony on Sept. 26. 

Drawing inspiration from his faith and from past social activists such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez – who was a close friend and fellow activist with O’Donnell during the ’60s – O’Donnell says that no form of injustice can be tolerated. 

“Their spirit gives you a higher power than violence to bring to the people examples of how we violate each other,” he said. 

He talked about U.S. military actions overseas and the carrying out of what he called U.S. terrorism. 

“Philosophically, it’s the bully beating up the little kid,” he said. “We’ve been beating them up for centuries. The crusades are alive and well in Washington D.C.” 

Activists say that the people trained at the Fort Benning facility, called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, have been involved with a number of atrocities, including the murder of Colombian Archbishop Isaias Duarte earlier this year and the slaying of six Jesuit priests in 1989. 

Officials at the school deny training military personnel to commit acts of terror, and say that the school requires human rights training of its students. 

Regarding O’Donnell’s upcoming jail time, City Councilmember Linda Maio said the Berkeley priest has made plans for when he is behind bars. 

“He said he’ll have to touch and reach out to people while he’s in jail,” Maio said.  

An event recognizing O’Donnell’s community efforts is scheduled 7 p.m. Aug. 3 at St. Joseph’s The Worker Church at 1640 Addison St., near Jefferson Avenue.