As a follow-up to the story we discussed in our September 3rd post “Bridget Dumps Bernie – Interfaith Divorce Tough on Kids,” news has been released this week that the Chicago man under a restraining order preventing him from taking his daughter to church was cleared of charges relating to his alleged violation of the restraining order.
A Cook County judge ruled yesterday that the father was not in violation of the court order when he took his daughter to church in January, prior to the completion of child custody proceedings. Contempt of court could not be proven given the video captured by the television crew does not actually show the daughter in attendance at the service.
Last winter, the Chicago family going through a messy divorce made news when the father took his 3-year-old daughter to Catholic mass. Given the fact that the father and daughter were accompanied by a television crew, it’s likely this act was in reaction to the restraining order the girl’s Jewish mother had placed on him to prevent him from doing so. The father had converted to the Jewish faith when the couple married and promised his wife they would raise their children to be Jewish. Since the split, the father’s return to Christianity and baptization of the daughter into the Christian faith without the mother’s knowledge, the couple has engaged in a heated debate over the faith in which their daughter will be raised. Under terms of the divorce finalized this past April, the father has the option of attending church with his daughter during visitation times outlined by the custody agreement.
