Rose Marie Berger

Rose, a native of the West Coast, lives in Washington, D.C. Over the past two decades, Rose has rooted herself with Sojourners magazine and ministry. She has worked as a peace organizer, intern director, community pastor, poetry editor, and, currently, as an associate editor of Sojourners magazine. She writes a monthly column for Sojourners on spirituality and social justice.

She has a veteran history in social justice activism, including: educating and training groups in nonviolence; leading retreats in spirituality and justice; writing on topics as diverse as the “Spiritual Vision of Van Gogh, O'Keeffe, and Warhol,” the war in the Balkans, interviews with black activists Vincent Harding and Yvonne Delk, the Love Canal's Lois Gibbs, and Mexican archbishop Ruiz, cultural commentary on the Catholic church and the peace movement, reviews of movies, books, and music.

A founding member of a small creative writing group, Rose Berger has taught writing and poetry workshops for children and adults. She’s completed her MFA in poetry through the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program. Her poetry has been published in Sojourners, The Other Side, Radix and D.C. Poets Against the War.

Rose grew up in the Central Valley of California, located in the rich flood plains of the Sacramento and American rivers. Raised in radical Catholic communities heavily influenced by Franciscans and the Catholic Worker movement, she served for nine years on the pastoral team for Sojourners Community Church; five as its co-pastor. She directed Sojourners internship program from 1990-1999. She is currently Associate Editor and Poetry Editor for Sojourners magazine.

She has traveled throughout the United States, and also in Israel/Palestine, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosova, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and El Salvador visiting primarily with faith communities working for peace in situations of conflict.

Rose’s articles include:

• Pursuing the Secret of Joy: What is joy when it's not promiscuously tied to happiness, Hallmark, or hedonism?
• Nonviolence in Najaf?: Will we recognize an Islamic peace movement when we see it?
• A Presidential Option for the Poor? :Venezuela's Hugo Chavez stirs up fierce criticism - and hope.
• Of Love's Risen Body: The poetry of Denise Levertov, 1923-1997
• Glimpses of God Outside the Temple: The spiritual vision of Vincent Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keefe, and Andy Warhol.
• Damnation Will Not Be Televised: Almost everything I know about hell I learned from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer

She co-owns a house with Sojourners associate editor Julie Polter in the Southern Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. and shares it with Rose’s flat-coat lab retriever “Solea.”