Kathleen Norris Quotes

A Quote Analysis of Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris

Quote 1: “It was still a sinful church—how could it be otherwise—but the words of its prophets and apostles had led to this sanctuary, and I could dare to imagine it as home” (Norris 46).

This passage defines the historical corruption of the Church, which had left a legacy of elaborate and beautiful architectural wonders, which challenges Norris’ sense of place in the religious community. In the presence tense, I felt that Norris had begun to understand her own personal vision of spiritual sanctuary that went beyond the historical barriers she encountered. This type of emotional and spiritual connection is something that goes beyond the corruption and greed of the Church, which had built

The Roman Catholic Church, and especially in the Benedictine order, has typically favored a patriarchal worldview of Christian ideologies and institutional practices. Norris provides a feminist perspective on the role of the “three marys” that stood at the foot of the cross, and other figures, such as Mary Magdalene, that saw “the rising of Christ first”(25). Norris has a passionate way of writing, which defines these examples of female leadership in the Church, which have often been marginalized due to the patriarchal style of governance under male clerics and religious scholars. This was a powerful aspect of Norris’ book, which provides a unique insight into the way women are perceived within the Roman Catholic Church. This sense of religious understanding provides a feminist point of view that redefines the institutional structure of the Church in the 21st century. Certainly, Norris provides an emotional and historical plea to the reader to support the cause for women in the Church. More so, it also tends to support a more intensive feminist dialogue within the Benedictine Order. After all, Catholic monasteries had typically only allowed men into the order, and Norris is an example of the evolution of a female integration into these monasteries. This quote is a powerful emotive plea to restore the proper role of women as equals to men in the development of the early Roman Catholic