Judge: Father Cannot Take Daughter to Easter Mass

Chicago - ________________

ADDITIONAL COVERAGE:

STORY: Dad Faces Criminal Contempt for Daughter's Baptism

STORY: Father in Religion Case Back in Court

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A local father involved in a messy divorce has been barred from taking his 3-year-old daughter to church on Easter.

Wednesday, Joseph Reyes asked a judge if he could take his daughter to Catholic Mass on Easter Sunday. The judge refused his request.

Reyes and the child's mother had agreed to raise their daughter in the Jewish faith.

Reyes had her baptized in the Catholic Church, and a temporary restraining order was then issued to stop him from exposing her to other religions.

Reyes is facing a contempt charge for ignoring that order and taking her to mass anyway.
"I'm very suspicious about the family court system in this country. I think it's incredibly biased against the men," Reyes said.

"He's trying to capitalize on this to get sympathy from strangers and get sound bites like somehow we're anti-Christianity. We're not, nor is the client. She's totally open to exposing her daughter to other religions. What she doesn't like is that he violates court orders," said Steven Lake, the mother's attorney.

Reyes does have visitation with his daughter.

The judges' final ruling in his divorce will be handed down in a couple of weeks.