Milagros Peña teaches sociology and directs women’s studies at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Her expertise includes women’s issues, border issues and Hispanic ministry in the United States. Her books include, as co-author, Emerging Voices, Urgent Choices: Essays on Latino/a Religious Leadership (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006).

The Rev. Gary Riebe-Estrella is a Catholic priest and dean emeritus at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Ill. He can discuss education and placement of clergy, congregational issues, U.S. Latino Catholics, and Mexican popular religion. He co-edited Horizons of the Sacred: Mexican Traditions in U.S. Catholicism (2002).

The Rev. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, a Catholic priest who teaches biblical studies and Hispanic theology at St. John’s University in New York, is editor in chief of the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology. Hispanic religious issues he can discuss include Bible translations, end-times perspectives, ecumenism, relations with Jews and Muslims, immigration and immigration, and clergy.

José David Rodríguez holds the Augustana Heritage Chair of Global Mission and World Christianity at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where he also teaches systematic theology and directs advanced programs of study. His interests include Hispanic Christian theologies, Latino ministry, ethics, world Christianity and missions.

María Pilar Aquino Vargas is a professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego. Her specialties include Latina feminism, both in the United States and in Latin America. She wrote Our Cry for Life: Feminist Theology From Latin America (English translation Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2002).

Benjamin Valentin teaches theology and culture at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Mass., where he directs Latino/a studies. He co-chairs the AAR Latina/o Religion, Culture and Society Group. His expertise includes the intersection between Latinos and African-Americans, liberation theology and Hispanic theology. Valentin authored Mapping Public Theology: Beyond Culture, Identity and Difference (Trinity Press International, 2002); […]

Read an April 2007 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Hispanic Center about the effects the booming Hispanic population is having on U.S. religious practices.

The Office of Research for Religion in Society and Culture at Brooklyn College publishes The National Survey of Leadership in Latino Parishes and Congregations. Contact Stevens-Arroyo.

The U.S. Census Bureau posts a page that links to surveys on the economic and social characteristics of Hispanics, as well as another page on the Hispanic population in the U.S. with links to a variety of surveys and documents.