THE POSTMODERN JOHN KERRY. "I pray for an America where rosary beads are sold in abortion clinic gift shops," said Mr. Kerry. "But I won't be a Catholic president, or even, as John F. Kennedy called himself, 'a president who happens to be Catholic'. I will be a president who happens to say he is Catholic but doesn't feel constrained by the black-and-white teachings of a church which is the bedrock of values, of sureness about who I am." I don't know what that last clause means, but the rest means I can say I am Catholic and not believe or practice what the church believes or practices. The church's teachings may be black and white, but I will operate in the gray. Where is that good old Catholic spine? In the old days, the church would at least excommunicate him. Now they don't even reply. And most Catholics will vote for him. Blah.