Rose Marie Berger - The Church has No Weapons: Merton’s Influence on Catholic Nonviolence

In this presentation to celebrate the launch of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence in Rome in September 2024, Sojourners senior editor Rose Marie Berger reflects on what led up to the launch of the Institute, what moral and theological questions top the Institute's research agenda, and what comes next for this tremendous new resource available to the global Church and beyond. Merton's own thinking and prayer on war and peace opened the way for the maturing of Catholic nonviolence as it is understood today. The launch of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence is another dynamic experiment in Merton's thoughts on how the Church's "wars are fought without any weapons at all."

Rose Marie Berger is a Catholic peace activist and poet. She is senior editor at Sojourners magazine, an ecumenical Christian magazine promoting faith and social justice, where she has worked since 1986. 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. She serves on the board of The International Thomas Merton Society.