New Jersey's Roman Catholic Bishops have endorsed the state's
plan for mandatory sex education in the state's public schools,
provided ''religious and cultural beliefs of individual students
and their families be given due respect.''  A pastoral letter
issued on Thursday by the Bishops in the five New Jersey
dioceses encourages sex education in both public and parochial
schools provided it represents a ''philosophy of education''
that ''reflects the essential goodness and comprehensive nature
of human sexuality.''  The letter from the Bishops - in Newark,
Paterson, Trenton, Camden and Passaic - does not discuss
specific topics, but stresses the positive value of teaching
about both the physical and psychological aspects of sexuality.
The Bishops say sex education is to focus on a ''positive
acceptance of human sexuality'' and ''values which will help the
person act responsibly with respect to personal sexuality and in
relationships with others.'' Wide Local Latitude  The state's
Board of Education has mandat