The Rev. Antonio Marques, pastor of Iglesia Communidad Evangelica in Glen Allen, has been educating his Spanish-speaking congregation about the benefits of filling out census forms. But he also has been telling those church members who are living in the area illegally that providing census data doesn’t bring them any benefits and that it might bring consequences later.

Barack Obama clobbered John McCain among Hispanic voters. Indeed, his strength among Hispanics contributed to his victories in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and—yes—Virginia.

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. “What I do now is because of how I was raised,“ said Giblin, 37, who grew up Catholic in Southern California. “In me was created a space for understanding; now I try to create that space in others. “

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

“Because of what we did on this date, in this election, at this defining moment change has come to America,“ President-elect Barack Obama said in his victory speech. As an African-American mother of three children, I’ve been sporadically crying ever since election night. When I tell my children they can work hard and aspire to any job in this country, that statement is finally, finally true.