Getting back to where you once belonged has taken on a new meaning besides a play on a Beatles lyric. Monsignor Robert Batule knows it all too well now.
Batule, 54, will succeed Robert Coyle as pastor of Corpus Christi Church in Mineola this summer. Coyle was ordained as auxiliary bishop to Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of the Military on April 25.
Msgr. Batule grew up in Merrick and attended St. Piux X in Uniondale, which closed in 1984. He attended Cathedral College in Douglaston, NY.
Batule was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1985 and assigned to St. Boniface Church in Elmont. He served at Corpus Christi from 1993-2002 as a parish priest.
After a series of other parish assignments, Batule began seminary duties, including Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington. He currently serves at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.
Batule is entering his fifth year of seminary assignment. He will be installed as pastor in Mineola on an unconfirmed Sunday in the fall after Labor Day.
“I take up my duties then,” Batule stated. “I’ll be installed probably in the early fall. You report in June and begin your duties then.”
Early influences in Batule’s decision to consider becoming a priest include his high school Latin teacher, Msgr. Charles Guarino, Father Dennis Whalen, an associate at Curé of Ars Parish in Merrick, Pastor Edward Sweeny and Msgr. Hugh Corrigan, a faculty member at Cathedral College and homilist at his first mass.
“Those were the many influences around school age,” he said. “In my own case, when I was an adolescent and I was around priests, I was sparked to consider a priestly vocation from what I saw in their lives.”
Batule is excited to return to Mineola and renew old acquaintances and “do the work that’s right for the parish.” He said he found the close-knit atmosphere and friendly nature of Mineola “welcoming and I’m sure it will be the same way when I go back.”
I’m happy to succeed Monsignor Coyle,” Batule said. “I always knew him to be a kind, respectful and considerate man. I’m sure he’ll do a great job as a bishop in the archdiocese for military services.
“I enjoyed my time at Corpus Christi the first time,” he continued. “I enjoyed working with the parishioners there; made a lot of friends. I’m happy to be going back again and celebrate our faith in word and sacrament and build up the kingdom of God in a particular locale.”
