In suburban Pittsburgh with his wife to celebrate a quiet Mother's Day, Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, worshipped at an Aspinwall church yesterday.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, talk with the Rev. Robert Duch at St. Scholastica Catholic Church in Aspinwall after attending Mass yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry took communion and greeted parishioners at St. Scholastica Catholic Church. The couple have a home in nearby Fox Chapel, and they often worship at St. Scholastica when they're in town.

"We have a very important person I'd like to introduce today," said the Rev. Robert G. Duch, just before his sermon.

"Emma Prescott."

It was the 8-year-old girl's First Communion, and Kerry greeted Emma and her family outside the church. Kerry signed autographs and joined his wife in cooing over babies.

Kerry was particularly taken with a sling that Beth Ruff of Aspinwall carried her 10-week-old son Finn in. Heinz Kerry told the woman her son had a "very beautiful head. . . It doesn't always work that way." Ruff beamed.

During the service, Duch told a story of how he first met Heinz Kerry at a Nantucket church about 20 years ago. When he learned her name, Duch innocently asked: "Oh, are you related to John Heinz?" referring to her husband at the time, the late senator from Pennsylvania.

The couple spent the day in Fox Chapel with Heinz Kerry's son Chris.

Kerry is scheduled to make campaign stops in Erie today. He will address health care and economic issues in appearances at the Erie International Airport and Edinboro University.