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If there’s one big mistake Zhanna Goltser sees students make when picking college loans, it’s turning to private lenders over the federal government.

The stock market is ebbing and flowing, banks are seeking bailouts and businesses across the country are struggling.

The recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center reaffirms findings that have been known in Hispanic/Latino ministry circles for a long time. Namely, Hispanics/Latinos are responsible for most of the growth of the Catholic Church in the United States (71 percent since 1960). This pattern will continue for decades to come as Hispanics/Latinos account for nearly half of all Catholics ages 18-29 (45 percent), and far more than 50 percent of new immigrants achieving permanent residency status. The survey also confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country, now standing barely at 51 percent.

I’m not surprised as I see and hear and read about much of the criticism aimed at the Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Last week, Father James Goode, O.F.M., from the National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life sent me the obituaries from Gertrude Morris’ and Ellen Tarry’s funeral. Over the decades, many black Catholics have come to know these two women or have benefited from their ministry. They made their mark and shed the light of faith within the church. Today, we honor them in this short article about their lives.

WASHINGTON – As the presidential election campaign was drawing to a close, some U.S. bishops urged Catholics not to base their votes on one issue alone, while others said no combination of issues could trump a candidate’s stand on what Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan called the “premier civil rights issue of our day” – abortion.

ROME – Someone at the Synod of Bishops on the Bible suggested that Pope Benedict XVI start his own blog, and a blogging U.S. bishop thinks it’s a good idea.

Father Leon K. Warczynski, the former longtime pastor of Sacred Heart of Mary in Graceland Park who led efforts to build a new parish school and inspired priestly vocations, died Oct. 19 at Stella Maris in Timonium. He was 91.