Jonathan Morris announces engagement year after leaving priesthood: 'I'm so grateful to God'

Fox News contributor Jonathan Morris, a former Catholic priest, joined "The Story" Thursday to discuss his engagement to ABC News producer Kaitlyn Folmer.

"I'm so grateful to God," said Morris, who announced in May 2019 that he had asked Pope Francis to release him from his priestly vows. "God's plans are mysterious. And I'm so grateful to the church that there's a process by which the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has granted me a dispensation."

FLASHBACK: JONATHAN MORRIS: MY DECISION TO LEAVE THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

On June 10, 2019, Morris appeared on "The Story" to discuss his decision. At the time, host Martha MacCallum asked him, "Is there somebody that you are leaving the church for?"

"No, there's not," Morris answered. "There's nobody that I have in mind for marriage. There is no existing relationship. I am starting off right now just waiting to hear what God wants of me and I'm going to go very slowly, professionally and personally, and I trust that God will lead me."

"Just a few days after that interview," Morris told MacCallum Thursday, "I went to lunch with Kaitlyn professionally. I was in New York and I had met her professionally before. A month after that, we went out to dinner. I guess you would call that a date.

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Morris said Pope Francis had "recognized that it [the priesthood] just wasn't the right thing for me. And he said not only go forward, free from that obligation of your priestly vows, but be an active voice for the church as a lay person, and that's what I'm going to do."

He described his personal journey as "very strange, but it's been beautiful."

"Life is full of changes, you know, both professionally and personally now, big changes," Morris said. "But I'm just very happy that God has been by my side this whole time. I'm grateful for the 17 years as a priest in the ministry of all the people I was able to serve."