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Make Money, Not Ministry
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 13, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 13, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Well, it's not quite The Thorn Birds, but it does involve money, love, and religion: A judge ordered that a Brooklyn man stop his divinity studies and take up law again in order to pay child support for his two children. Simon Ajose, who gradudated from Columbia Law School, had fired from a $100,000 position at a law firm when he failed the bar exam. Even though he eventually passed, he decided not to file papers to become a lawyers and opted to study divinity instead. When his ex-wife Stephanie Lopez heard this, she thought, "You're kidding me." Ajose owes $40,000 in back payments, $875/month while he was at the law firm and less when he was fired (she had supported him while he was in law school; it seems like they might have split when he was working at the law firm). Judge Jeffrey Sunshine held Ajose in contempt for being "voluntarily unemployed." Take that church and state separation! But Judge Sunshine said that once Ajose is making a living and paying child support, he could go back to studying divinity.
Oh, and Ajose did represent himself in the case and told reporters, "I have done the best I possibly can to provide for them. I feel that nonmonetary contributions should be taken into account."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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