By Kelsie Raines

A former UK professor and current president of the Catholic University of America, John Garvey, will be discussing religion and academics on Friday.

The speech on “Religion and Academic Freedom,” will be at 7 p.m. in the UK College Of Law Courtroom.

“He is coming back as a distinguished speaker to speak to the people of Lexington,” Roger Teague, the Newman Foundation president, said.

Garvey taught law at UK from 1976 until 1994.

Teague said he met Garvey when he taught at UK because they both were members of the Newman Center, the Catholic student center on campus.

Garvey graduated from Notre Dame and later went on to Harvard Law School and Harvard Divinity School. He has been a professor at numerous universities around the nation, and is a former dean of the Boston College Law School.

He is the third lay president of Catholic University of America, meaning he isn’t a part of the clergy. It is the national university of the Catholic church, located in Washington, D.C., according to the university’s website.

“The interesting part is we, as human beings, are always being challenged,” Teague said.

Garvey is known for speaking about “the role of religion in his professional and personal life and admits that such openness about religion might be unusual in America,” according to the Catholic university’s website.

In a recent Chicago Tribune article, Garvey wrote about the same topic.

“In a society so heavily regulated, the only practical way to protect religious freedom is to carve out exemptions from the laws for people who have strong

objections,” he wrote in the article.

Jessica Millard Hartman, executive director of the Newman Foundation, said she can’t wait to see him.

“He’s coming to UK to reconnect with his friends at the Newman Center and also his friends at the College of Law,” Teague said.