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SKATER-NUN
(Catholic
News Agency)
A former U.S. Olympic
speed skater is now a Franciscan sister and says she has “no
regrets” about her decision to commit to a life of service to God
and the poor.
Kirstin Holum at the
age of 17 placed sixth in the 3,000 meters speed skating event at
the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Observers predicted a
great future for Holum, whose mother was a 1972 gold medalist in
speed skating.
But despite loving the
sport, she told Yahoo Sports, “I had this incredibly strong calling
that it was time to move on and take a different path in life.”
She decided on her
calling while on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in
Portugal.
Holum is now known as
Sister Catherine and is a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the
Renewal, whose mission is to work with the poor and the homeless and
to evangelize.
 “It
is funny now to think of how different my life is now,” she told
Yahoo Sports. “I had the wonderful privilege of being able to
compete as an Olympian, and now I am blessed to able to serve God
and help those less fortunate.”
She was first based in
New York where she and her fellow sisters worked in the Bronx with
poor children in gang areas. In the fall of 2009, Sr. Catherine was
sent with three other sisters to Leeds, England, where she now
serves as a missionary to the people in the surrounding area.
Sister Lucille, who
heads the Bronx chapter of the Sisters of the Renewal, said that Sr.
Catherine has the “compassion of an angel.”
“It is wonderful to
see people’s faces light up when Sister Catherine shares her
experiences of her time in speed skating,” Sister Lucille said. “She
never boasts about it but she has come to realize that we are
incredibly proud of her and are lucky to have her as part of our
religious family. The sisters and the people we try to reach love
hearing about what she accomplished.”
Sr. Catherine told
Yahoo Sports she wishes “the very best” to this Olympics’
competitors in speed skating, many of whom she once skated with.
“It is strange for me
to think that things could have been different for me and I could
have been at the Olympics again, but it wasn’t the Lord’s path for
me and I have no regrets.”
To
learn more about the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, visit:
http://www.franciscansisterscfr.com
Visit the Women's
Religious Communities page for more information
about women's orders with connections to the Diocese of Syracuse. |
