Msgr. Robert J. Batule is a priest of the Diocese of the Diocese of Rockville Centre currently studying in Rome. He holds graduate degrees in sociology and theology and has written and published in both areas. His primary work has been as a parish priest, however. He has served pastorally in a number of different positions.

HUMANAE VITAE: THE NEXUS OF PERSONAL AND SOCIAL MORALITY.

This paper gives consideration to cultural trends which have facilitated the establishment and maintenance of a contraceptive ethos. It also calls attention to social problems which have seen a steady rise since the onset of a contraceptive ethos. The 1968 encyclical of Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, which repudiates contraception, does not just offer a personal prescription for moral health. It reaches beyond personal conduct and offers us a look at what a society not threatened by out of control social pathologies is like. The look we get in Humanae Vitae will not take hold in the public consciousness unless we repair our understanding of how personal behavior is always affecting the social climate.

Jamaica, Queens, New York 11439