Senior Editor, Sojourners magazine

Rose Marie Berger is a Catholic peace activist and poet. She has been on Sojourners staff since 1986, and worked for social justice movements for 40 years. Rose has rooted herself with Sojourners magazine and ministry. She has written hundreds of articles for Sojourners and other publications and is a sought after preacher and public speaker. After living in Washington, D.C., for 35 years, she moved to Oak View, Calif., in 2022.

Rose’s work in Christian nonviolence has taken her to conflict zones around the world. She is active in the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a project of Pax Christi International, and served as co-editor for Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and the World, the fruit of a multiyear, global, participatory process to deepen Catholic understanding of and commitment to Gospel nonviolence. Her poetry has appeared in the books Watershed Discipleship: Reinhabiting a Bioregional Faith and Practice and Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry: Conversations on Creation, Land Justice, and Life Together. She is author of Bending the Arch: Poems (2019), Drawn By God: A History of the Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries from 1967 to 1991 (with Janet Gottschalk, 2012), and Who Killed Donte Manning? The Story of an American NeighborhoodShe has also been a religion reviewer for Publishers Weekly and a Huffington Post commentator. Her work has appeared in National Catholic Reporter, Publishers Weekly, Religion News Service, Radical Grace-Oneing, The Merton Seasonal, U.S. Catholic, and elsewhere. She serves on the board of The International Thomas Merton Society.

With Sojourners, Rose has worked as an organizer on peace and environmental issues, internship program director, liturgist, community pastor, poetry editor, and, currently, as a senior editor of Sojourners magazine, where she writes a regular column on spirituality and justice. She is responsible for the Living the Word biblical reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary, poetry, Bible studies, and interviews – and oversees the production of study guides and the online Bible study Preaching the Word.

Rose has a veteran history in social justice activism, including: leading the first international, inter-religious peace witness into Kyiv, Ukraine, following the outbreak of war in 2022, organizing inter-religious witness against the Keystone XL pipeline; 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.

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 a senior editor and poetry editor for Sojourners magazine. She has traveled throughout the United States, and also in Ukraine, 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 was born when atmospheric CO2 was at 319.08 ppm and now lives with her wife Heidi Thompson in Oak View, Calif., in the Ventura River watershed on traditional Chumash lands. Learn more at rosemarieberger.com.

Rose’s articles include:

Rose Marie Berger is available to speak at your next event. Please review our speaker instructions and guidelines or check out our full list of Sojourners speakers.

Speaking Topics

  • Christian nonviolence, peace, war
  • Catholic Nonviolence Initiative
  • Climate change, creation care, watershed discipleship
  • Bible study, liturgical year
  • Poetry
  • Spirituality and social justice
  • Any topic covered in Sojourners magazine
  • Catholicism

Speaking Format

  • Preference for virtual events, but willing to discuss in-person events on case-by-case basis

Posts By This Author

Hanging up the Phone Tax

The federal excise tax on long-distance phone calls, which began as part of the Spanish-American War effort in 1898, was repealed in May by the U.S. Treasury Department.

News Bites

-Holy Water.

Plowshares Action

by Rose Marie Berger 09-01-2006

Catholic priest Carl Kabat and military veterans Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli led a Plowshares direct action against nuclear weapons when they entered the E-9 missile silo in North Dakota la

News Bites

by Rose Marie Berger 09-01-2006

Stately Action. After much work by its Catholic majority, the Philippines officially banned the death penalty in June, winning the thanks of Pope Benedict XVI.

60 Ways to Leave Your WMDs

by Rose Marie Berger 09-01-2006

Former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, now chair of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission in Sweden, presented the commission’s report to world leaders in June.

Judas, We Hardly Knew Ye

by Rose Marie Berger 08-01-2006
The 'gospel' of Judas and The Da Vinci Code make Christianity unrecognizable.

César Chávez Saved My Life

by Rose Marie Berger 08-01-2006

Nane Alejandrez had plenty of opportunities to die. Instead he chose life, and brought generations of Latino youngsters with him.

Citizens Remember

by Rose Marie Berger 08-01-2006

After a two-year process, the Greensboro (North Carolina) Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first of its kind in the United States, delivered its final report in May on the events surroundin

News Bites

by Rose Marie Berger 08-01-2006

  • Gold Medal. Palestinian Christian Naim Ateek, founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, received an award from the Peace Fellowship of

Thou shalt not

by Rose Marie Berger 08-01-2006
Covenants always have social and political implications.

Follow The Money

by Rose Marie Berger 08-01-2006

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., released a report in May that revealed how a small group of wealthy funders are influencing the denomination’s debates on homosexuality in the churc

Remembering Damu Smith

by Rose Marie Berger 08-01-2006

Damu Smith, 54, founder of Black Voices for Peace and executive director of the National Black Environmental Justice Network, died of colon cancer on May 6, 2006, in Washington, D.C.

Sanctuary Movement on the Rise

by Rose Marie Berger 07-01-2006

The city council of Maywood, California, declared the town a refuge for undocumented residents in January.

The Art of Savoring

by Rose Marie Berger 07-01-2006
Soon the first stars will move tentatively into the field of sky.

Operation Peaceforce

by Rose Marie Berger 07-01-2006

Amid increased violence in Sri Lanka, Nonviolent Peaceforce members are providing unarmed accompaniment to those delivering aid, as well as applying nonviolent strategies to prote

Will The Desert Bloom

by Rose Marie Berger 07-01-2006

In an arid valley of northwestern Afghanistan, diets used to consist of little more than tea and bread, and women remained in the home.

News Bites

by Rose Marie Berger 07-01-2006

Olive Branch. In April, 120 former Israel Defense Force soldiers and Palestinian militants publicly launched “Combatants for Peace,” a partnership of former enem

News Bites

by Rose Marie Berger 06-01-2006

World Peace. A new Internet service provider, Peacenik.co.uk, will raise money for peacemakers working in conflict zones around the world.

Happy 100th to the Holy Rollers!

by Rose Marie Berger 06-01-2006
Many pentecostals trace their spiritual heritage to the Azusa Street revival.

Si, se puede!

by Rose Marie Berger 06-01-2006

Protesters holding an American flag join thousands of people during an immigration rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in April.