
Rose, who lived in Washington, D.C. for 35 years, lives in Oak View, Calif. She has been on Sojourners staff since 1986.
For more than 35 years, Rose has rooted herself with Sojourners magazine and ministry. 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 Neighborhood.
In the course of a 35 plus-year career in faith-based activism, advocacy journalism, and pastoral leadership, Rose has proven to be a skilled organizer, exceptional writer, visionary pastoral leader, and innovative teacher of biblical literacy.
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 section, poetry, Bible studies, and interviews – and oversees the production of study guides, discussion guides, and the online bible study Preaching the Word. She is also 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.
Rose has a veteran history in social justice activism, including: 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.
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 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’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 lives in Oak View, Calif., in the Ventura River watershed on traditional Chumash lands.
Posts By This Author
News Bites
Pram Time. Fifteen nonviolent demonstrators, including four children, occupied the Colombian consulate in Sydney, Australia, in August...
Resources: Building Supplies
The Christian Information Service in Croatia has published a small but powerful book titled RefuJesus. Author and activist Boris Peterlin meditates on Jesus in today's refugee camps.
Visigoths and the City of God
When the Visigoths sacked Rome, the Eternal City, in 410 C.E., the attackers used the city's own mighty transportation system-the Appian Way-as the weapon of its downfall.
Speaking Truth to Police Power
Truth commissions have brought to light atrocities in South Africa, El Salvador, and elsewhere across the globe. But some feel such hearings are needed closer to home.
Voices, Not Victims
When a University of California campus saw a marked increase in date rape, an unlikely alliance emerged.
Won't Study War No More
An individual's right to refuse active military service on the grounds of conscience is a "fundamental aspect of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion..."
Worth Noting
Do you remember what Dr. Arroway (Jodie Foster) said, in the movie Contact, when she was launched by The Pod into humanity's first meeting with non-Earthlings?
Raising the Roof
At the Faithdome in South Central Los Angeles in May, one of the most dynamic religious movements in the world was out in full force...
Temples, Shrines, Mosques, and Churches
One of America's greatest strengths is our diversity of faith traditions. New research suggests we're getting stronger every day.
News Bites
Two-Edged. In a national effort to disarm all fighting units in Sierra Leone, the U.N. destroyed nearly 10,000 firearms in a month-long amnesty period.
Turning the Tables on Hate
St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church turned the tables on hate-monger Fred Phelps in May when Phelps brought 10 of his followers to protest the ordination of Anita Hill, a lesbian pastor.
Holy Resistance
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has decided that breaking the law can be a Christian duty.
Yearning to Be Free
This spring 14 undocumented Mexican immigrants died from prolonged exposure to extreme heat in the Arizona desert.
A Devout Meditation in Memory of Timothy McVeigh
The Texas Two-Step
George W. and Laura Bush's new Crawford, Texas home boasts a stunning array of eco-friendly features...
Clowns Without Kevlar
When humanitarian intervention sends in the troops, its not usually a laughing matter.