| Father Jonathan Morris | |
|---|---|
| Born | Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
| Occupation | Roman Catholic Priest; Television personality |
| Website | |
| Father Jonathan Morris | |
Fr. Jonathan Morris (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is a Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of New York and a news contributor and analyst for the Fox News Channel. He currently serves as one of several parochial vicars at the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York City (not the same as St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Ave).[1] Before joining the archdiocese, Fr. Morris served as vice rector at the Legionaries of Christ Seminary in Rome.[2] He was a member of the Legion of Christ but rarely identified with them on camera.[3] He is author of the book The Promise: God's Purpose and Plan for When Life Hurts. His newest book is God Wants You Happy: From Self-Help to God's Help.
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The third child of a family of seven children, Morris studied political science at the University of San José in Costa Rica and then business administration at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. In 2002, he was ordained a priest through the Legion of Christ and spent many years living and working in Rome.[4][5]
From 2002 to 2004, Morris worked as a theological adviser in the making of Mel Gibson's motion picture The Passion of the Christ. [6]
With the physical decline of Pope John Paul II in late March 2005, and his death in April 2005, Morris provided reports and analysis for CNN, Fox News Channel, the BBC, and Sky News, and he was interviewed by Bill Hemmer, Larry King, Shepard Smith, Anderson Cooper, and Christiane Amanpour, among others. Shortly thereafter, Morris received offers from several networks to contribute follow-up reports, and he began working for the Fox News Channel. In accepting the offer to work with the network, he proposed to not just cover Vatican news events only, but to also analyze bigger news stories from an ethical dimension.[7]
Since April 2005, Morris' work has expanded to include reports beyond the scope of the Vatican. He has been interviewed on several Fox News Channel programs, including Fox & Friends, Dayside, Hannity and Colmes, The Live Desk with Martha MacCallum, and The O'Reilly Factor. He has also contributed to the Fox Business Network and Fox News.com's on-line news roundtable, "The Strategy Room."
Morris began a recurring segment for Fox News Channel's late night news/comedy show Red Eye in May 2009. For this segment, called Father Knows Best, Morris answers questions from viewers on religious and faith-related issues. He is also a regular news contributor for the show. That same year, he also became a contributor to the Wall Street Journal.[8]
In March 2010, Morris was interviewed as a theological advisor for the History Channel special The Real Face of Jesus?, a documentary that followed a team of computer and 3D specialists as they uncovered forensic data from the Shroud of Turin, extrapolating a new picture of the face of the man from the shroud.[9]