CNA/EWTN News is reporting on the story of Kim, who is one of the most famous celebrities in South Korea. Competing this year in the Olympics in Sochi, she won the gold in 2010 in Vancouver in the ladies' freestyle with a score that broke records. Considered to be one of the best figure skaters in modern history, she has broken world record scores 11 times to date and will be skating in the match of her life tonight in Sochi against the Russian protege Julia Lipnitskaia and long-time rival Mao Asada of Japan.
But nowhere does she shine so bright as in her open profession of the Catholic faith she embraced along with her mother in 2008.
The two were inspired to join the Church through Kim's physician, Dr. Cho, who was a devout Catholic. He had many Catholic visitors, including nuns, at his sports medicine clinic. Over time, Kim and her mother became more and more impressed by the kindness and love the nuns showed everyone, and eventually asked to be instructed in the faith.
According to Fr. Ernest Daly, the priest who taught Kim said he was very impressed with her hunger for the faith and the joy she found in it.
"He said she absorbed every aspect of the Catholic faith that he taught her with an enthusiasm and purity that deeply impressed him," Fr. Daly wrote.
Kim and her mother were baptized in 2008. She took the name "Stella" in honor of Mary, Star of the Sea, to whom she is very devoted.
"In 2010, she also joined with the Korean bishops in a national campaign to explain the rosary to the Korean public – and to explain the meaning of the rosary ring she herself wears to fans who mistook it for an engagement ring," CNA/EWTN reports.
"Kim has also been active in using her position as an opportunity for charitable works, volunteering and donating funds to Catholic Hospitals, Universities, and other charitable organizations, and working alongside the Catholic bishops in Korea as a spokeswoman for Catholic charities in Seoul."
In 2012, she donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Salesians of Don Bosco to help support the missionary brothers and establish Catholic schools in war-torn Sudan.
The year before, while visiting Africa, she told the Korean press that she "felt the need to help out children there" and offered her support.
"Stella has explained that her Catholic faith has given her a newfound peace," Fr. Daly reports. "She said that at her baptism she felt great consolation and relief, knowing that she had God’s love, and she promised that from then on she would pray before entering the rink."
It was a promise she has never broken.
Even when the eyes of the whole world are upon her as she warms up for a skate, she can be seen making the sign of the cross before taking to the ice.
"Big stars like Kim making the sign of the cross in public can help the Church’s evangelization activities indirectly," said Fr. Ignatius Kim Min-soo to UCA News just after she won the gold in 2010.
The secretary of the Korean bishops' Committee for Social Communication agreed, adding that "Her public display of her Catholic identity fills local Catholics with pride and influences non-Catholics too."
Fr. Daly asks everyone to pray for Kim that she will continue to live a strong Catholic faith, and help other people discover God’s love by her example.
"In her own way, Stella is also a “morning star” like Mary, who points us toward Jesus. And that’s probably the best star any of us can be."
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