The Department of Labor is considering a new rule that would allow federal contractors who identify as religious to hire employees based on faith and religious practice. The new policy would expand an executive order by President Lyndon Johnson protecting the rights of religious employers with federal government contracts to hire from within their religious group.

In the year leading up to the 100th anniversary of the Legion of Mary, which will take place on Sept. 7, 2021, Legionaries from around the Diocese and the neighboring Newark Archdiocese are encouraging the faithful to make a “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary” according to the method of St. Louis Marie de Montfort. There will be an introductory workshop at St. Thomas More Church in Fairfield to explain the meaning, history and the process of consecration Sept. 28.

As a person faces his or her final moments on Earth, volunteers are needed to be a compassionate presence for the dying. Because of this, a ministry to serve these gravely ill patients and their families is in the beginning stages in the Paterson Diocese with the launching of the St. Joseph’s Apostolate for the Sick and Dying.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Resurrection Parish here and celebrated the vigil Mass for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Aug. 31.

Throughout the Diocese, Straight and Narrow in Paterson has received an outpouring of support to help in the aftermath of a five-alarm fire that took place on Aug. 24 completely destroying its 410 Straight Street facility. In part of the ongoing effort to help S&N — a Diocesan Catholic Charities agency, which is the largest non-profit drug and rehabilitation center in the country — to rebuild and continue to serve so many men and women in recovery after the fire, there are several ways Catholics could assist.

On the lawn of the Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Chester on a sunny Aug. 27 afternoon, Salesian Sister Janna San Juan led a few fellow religious sisters and brothers in a round of her favorite game: Frisbee. These young religious from various communities that serve the Diocese often laughed as they jostled for the plastic disc which made the game seem more about camaraderie than competition — one of many opportunities for fun and fellowship at this year’s diocesan Bishop’s Summer Gathering for New Religious and those discerning religious life.

Iranian-American journalist Sohrab Ahmari will share the story of his courageous conversion to Roman Catholicism in 2016 — after having been raised in a nominally Islamic household in Iran — and remind Catholics of their responsibility to proclaim the truth in a relativistic society in his presentation, “Bold Witness in a Faithless Age,” on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison.