Judge Jacob Panken of New York’s Domestic Relations Court yesterday refused to recognize as valid the Catholic baptism of a four-year-old child circumcised at birth on the grounds that the baptism had been performed at the behest of the father without the consent of his Jewish wife.
The case involved John Glavis, a Greek Catholic, Mrs. Gertrude Glavis and their son Dennis. The child was accepted into the Jewish religion with the apparent agreement of both parents. Last Octorber, while his wife was in a hospital, Mr. Glavis had the child baptized without informing her.
Subsequently, the maternal grandfather, David Silver, petitioned successfully to have the child sent to a Jewish foster home on the grounds that the father was neglecting him and the mother was too ill to care for him. The father attempted to have the child removed from the Jewish home, asserting that Dennis was a Catholic. Judge Panken denied the petition.
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