Senior Editor, Sojourners magazine
Photo: Brandon Hook / Sojourners

Invite Rose to Speak

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:

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.

Presente!

James A. Corbett, 1933-2001

Visigoths and the City of God

by Rose Marie Berger 11-01-2001

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..."

Slave Ways No More

by Rose Marie Berger 09-01-2001

How Isabella Baumfree became Sojourner Truth.

Worth Noting

by Rose Marie Berger 09-01-2001

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? 

Building Supplies

Looking for more information on U.S. drug policy?

 

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

by Rose Marie Berger 09-01-2001
We killed McVeigh to make it clear that he was not like us.

The Texas Two-Step

by Rose Marie Berger 07-01-2001

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, it’s not usually a laughing matter.

The Mercy Seat

by Rose Marie Berger 07-01-2001

Is rape a war crime, or 'collateral damage'?