Easter Sunday found our family on the shores of Lake Moultrie, about 15 miles outside of Charleston, S.C. Thanks to the ever-helpful Greta (our Garmin), we were able to locate Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church for Easter Sunday services. Had it not been for the wonders of global positioning technology, we would never have found the tiny mission parish in Bonneau, S.C. (pop. 354).

Catholic politicians seem to be everywhere these days. In Virginia alone, the governor and attorney general are both Roman Catholic. On the national level, Catholic politicians seem to be spilling out of every tabernacle in town. This is not surprising given that 24.5 percent of Americans are Catholic. Except for brief interruptions, American Catholics have remained loyal to the Democratic Party since the days of mass Catholic immigration when the party was quick to dispense desperately needed jobs and cash to struggling families in return for votes.

With a mother from El Salvador and an Irish-American father from Minnesota, Erik Giblin learned early how to walk between cultures. That knowledge has served him well in his first few months as director of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond’s Office for the Hispanic Apostolate.

Every year, Chris and Jill Van Hoewyk of Chesterfield County place a menagerie of inflatable holiday figures in their front yard: Santa, Mickey Mouse in a Santa suit clutching a “Merry Christmas” ornament and a pair of penguins on a sled.

The Rev. Shay W. Auerbach was initially assigned to Sacred Heart Catholic Church for a year, but he asked to stay longer when he saw great opportunities to minister to a multicultural community, immigrants and the marginalized. After 15 months, the Jesuit priest, a native of Hawaii, was formally installed Thursday night as pastor of Sacred Heart, a church on Perry Street in South Richmond with about 1,200 families.

The Rev. Shay W. Auerbach was initially assigned to Sacred Heart Catholic Church for a year, but he asked to stay longer when he saw great opportunities to minister to a multicultural community, immigrants and the marginalized.

SLIDESHOW: New pastor for Sacred Heart Catholic Church