About Rose

Rose Marie Berger is a Catholic poet and peace activist who writes about empire, art, social justice and activism.

A native of the West Coast, Rose has lived in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. since the mid-1980s. In the course of a 20 plus-year career in faith-based activism, advocacy journalism, and pastoral leadership, she has proven to be a skilled organizer, exceptional writer, visionary pastoral leader, and innovative teacher of biblical literacy.

For more than two decades, Rose has rooted herself with Sojourners magazine and ministry. She has worked as a peace organizer, internship program director, liturgist, community pastor, poetry editor, and, currently, as an associate editor of Sojourners magazine. She is responsible for the Between the Lines news section, poetry, and interviews – and oversees the production of study guides, discussion guides, and the online bible study Preaching the Word. Additionally, she writes a monthly column for Sojourners on spirituality and social justice called “The Hungry Spirit.” She is also a religion reviewer for Publishers Weekly.

Rose has a veteran history in social justice activism, including: educating and training groups in nonviolence; leading retreats in spirituality and justice; and writing on a wide range of topics related to faith, politics, and culture. She has interviewed civil rights activists Vincent Harding and Yvonne Delk, the Love Canal’s Lois Gibbs, and Mexican archbishop Ruiz, Palestinian political leader Hanan Ashrawi, poet-farmer Wendell Berry, Filipino activist Karl Gaspar, contemplative prayer guru Thomas Keating, Latino organizer Nane Alejandrez, and many others.

Rose’s writing includes: ‘Free At Last’ on the release of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq; “A Presidential Option for the Poor” on Venezuela’s model of social capitalism; “A Laboratory of Reconciliation” on the Bosnian wars; “The Time of Coca” on Colombia’s drug war; “The Good Housekeeping Award” on women heroes of the environmental movement; “Who Controls the Spigot? On water privatization; “Death’s Dance Broken” the story of Sr. Dianna Ortiz; and much more.

Rose’s interview with Dr. Vincent Harding has been included in the 2008 revised version of Martin Luther King: An Inconvenient Hero by Vincent Harding (Orbis Books, 2008).  Her interview with Wendell Berry has been included in Conversations with Wendell Berry edited by Morris Allen Grubbs (University Press of Mississippi, 2007). She has a chapter on war and peace included in The Revolution (Relevant Media Group, 2006) and a chapter on the spiritual necessity of daydreaming in The Impossible Will Take A Little While (Basic Books, 2004).

Rose 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. She has traveled with Witness for Peace, Ministry of Money, Maryknoll, Pax Christi, and worked with Christian Peacemaker Teams. Additionally, she leads seminars and retreats, teaches, preaches, and facilitates gatherings on a wide variety of issues linking spirituality and social justice.

Since 2011, Rose has served as a mentor with the World and World Mentoring Program dedicated to putting 22-30-year-olds with a thirst for justice  in conversation with some of the most influential and committed radical theologians and activist-scholars of our day.

A  founding member of a small creative writing group, Rose has taught writing and poetry workshops for children and adults. Her poetry has been published in Sojourners, The Other Side, Radix, D.C. Poets Against the War, and Beltway.

Rose holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree in poetry from the University of Southern Maine (2005) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from the University of California at Davis (1985).

BOOKS

Who Killed Donte Manning? The Story of an American Neighborhood
By Rose Marie Berger
In March 2005, a nine-year-old boy was gunned down in his Columbia Heights neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The unsolved murder tore the community to its core and sets Rose Marie Berger on an exploration for the soul of our nation’s capital. How can urban space be read as biblical narrative? Where do people locate themselves in urban time, space, and spirituality? Who do cities sacrifice and why? Rose Marie Berger has lived in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C., since the mid-1980s. She is Associate Editor and Poetry Editor for the award-winning progressive magazine Sojourners. Berger has written on a wide range of topics related to faith, politics, and culture, and has interviewed some of the world’s foremost social and political activists.

Syllables of the Perfect Word: Advent Reflections 2004
By Rose Marie Berger, Photographs by Ryan Beiler
During Advent we leave the place of our birth to journey to the birthplace of another. It is an invitation to renewal – to receive comfort and hope in the deep of winter, and be immersed in the eternal unchanging nature of God. These reflections include a phrase from the daily scripture, a reflection, the daily scripture references at the bottom, and the name of a saint or holy person of God who the Christian community remembers on that day. Written by Rose Marie Berger, associate editor at Sojourners. Commissioned by Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement. Out of print.