CHICAGO (CBS) ― It’s a divorce case that’s made national news and on Tuesday, the civil proceeding became a criminal case.
CBS 2’s Mike Puccinelli reports that a Chicago father faced a judge on contempt charges in a case stemming from a bitter dispute with his ex-wife over religious faith.
Joseph Reyes, 35, was at the Daley Center on Tuesday to find out if he was going to be thrown in jail for defying a court order barring him from taking his 3-year-old daughter to non-Jewish religious services.
Last month, Reyes invited reporters to come with him when he took his daughter to mass at Holy Name Cathedral. He said taking his daughter Ela to church violated no court order, because much of Catholicism is based on Judaism.
“I think that Christianity and Catholicism in particular is a radicalized form of Judaism. There are theologists that would agree with me on that point,” Reyes said.
Reyes had converted to Judaism after his daughter was born. His wife, Rebecca Reyes, has claimed he agreed to raise their daughter in the Jewish faith.
Joseph Reyes said that’s not true. He insisted they never agreed to raise the girl in the Jewish faith, that they never kept a kosher home, rarely observed the Sabbath and only went to Jewish services a few times together with the child.
“This is, in her mind, more about control,” Reyes said of his estranged wife on Tuesday between court hearings.
After his split from Rebecca, Joseph had their daughter baptized in a Catholic church without first consulting Rebecca. Joseph sent Rebecca a photo of their daughter’s late-November baptism at Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church in south suburban Evergreen Park, according to court records.
“I sent her pictures which she took as malicious,” Reyes said outside a Daley Center courtroom, saying that sharing the photos was simply a chance to show the girl all dressed up and enjoying the occasion.
She fired back by asking the judge in their divorce case to prevent Joseph from raising the child in any faith other than Judaism. She said failure to restrain Joseph would cause their daughter “irreparable harm.”
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Edward Jordan OK’d the temporary restraining order and the First District Appellate Court tossed out Joseph Reyes’ appeal.
Joseph’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, said, “I cannot see how taking a child to baptism or a church can ever be a harm to the child. It’s a loving experience.”
But Rebecca saw it differently. Through her attorney, she’s asked that Joseph be jailed for up to six months for violating the court order.
In court Tuesday, Joseph Reyes was formally charged with criminal contempt.
“It doesn’t feel good that’s for certain. I’m really doing nothing more than being the best dad I can to my daughter,” he said. “And the fact that that somehow resulted in criminal charges is demoralizing and insulting.”
Rebecca Reyes was not in court, but her attorney spoke for her.
Laura Ashmore said, “Our client has confidence in the judicial system and she wants to try her case in court and not in the media.”
Before Joseph Reyes was arraigned, the judge who granted the temporary restraining order barring him from exposing his daughter to any religion other than Judaism took himself off the case.
That happened after Joseph exercised his right to ask for a substitution of judge.
If Joseph Reyes is found in violation of the restraining order, he could face as much as six months in jail and a $500 fine.
The couple, who met through Joseph Reyes’ boxing coach, married in 2004.
After having a child, Joseph Reyes says, he converted to Judaism, but only because he felt pressured by his wife’s family, he said.
He felt torn during the marriage about whether to introduce the toddler to his religion or wait for her to discover it on her own.
“Rebecca pushed me in the direction of waiting to come by it on her own,” he said, insisting again there was no agreement to raise the girl Jewish. “Maybe Rebecca decided unilaterally, but I never signed on to that.”
The couple separated in 2008, and after a 7-month stretch in which he didn’t see the girl, Joseph Reyes took his estranged wife to court.
On Tuesday, as the divorce case continues, Rebecca Reyes has sole custody of Ela with, Joseph Reyes taking his daughter every other weekend and every Thursday for dinner.
The child attends a Jewish pre-school, Joseph Reyes says.
“I have no problem with that. … If anything, I encourage Ela to see different perspectives.”
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services