New Book Tells the Life Story of a Gay Catholic Pioneer

Today’s book review post is by Father Paul Morrissey, an early shaper of the Catholic LGBTQ+ movement, and the author of his own autobiograpy, Why I Remain a Gay Catholic: A Spiritual-Sexual Journey, published this month by Paulist Press. Use promo code word MORRIS at checkout for a 20% discount 

Every Catholic, especially priests and parents, should read A Prince of a Boy: How One Gay Catholic Helped Change the World by Brian McNaught, one of the pioneers of the Catholic LGBTQ+ movement.  This book will help them listen to the dialogue between “Gay” and “Catholic.” It is profound in its honesty, humor, nuance and experiential knowledge of spirituality and sexuality. In particular, it is descriptive of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer people’s lives told mainly through personal stories. 

As a young man, Brian was fired from his job at the Archdiocese of Detroit’s newspaper in 1974 when his employers learned he was gay.  That injustice spurred him on to become an advocate and educator to help people understand the lives of LGBTQ+ people. His work teaching mainly straight people in businesses and corporations throughout the U.S. and the world is the backbone of this memoir. His stories of his travels through a vast network of corporate connections and educational presentations, include wonderful anecdotes of how he spiced up his programs with humor and teasing questions and responses. 

One of the unique aspects of this memoir is Brian’s sharing the evolution of his spiritual life. For instance, he shifts from an early focus on God as Father to Jesus as friend and brother. Further on, he completes this trinitarian journey to experience himself as led by the Holy Spirit. Wouldn’t it be great if the churches could explore this evolution to maturity, including the oft-ignored role of conscience as we traverse these?

Brian is a brave, vulnerable and loving man. His 48-year relationship with his husband, Ray, made me jealous at times because their journey was a road not taken by me, a gay Catholic priest. Tears came as I realized this while reading this phrase “…the sacredness of my lovemaking with Ray.” I am about ten years older than Brian, and his history and memories merge with mine. Think: Anita Bryant, Dignity’s origins, early Gay Pride marches, AIDS, the Catholic Church’s tortured pronouncements about homosexuality, “intrinsically disordered,” gay marriage, and gender. What a trip to listen to your life through the eyes of a gay brother Catholic! 

Yet with all of this, I found his dismissal of the Eucharist as “not the Body and Blood of Christ” too glib, wishing that he could elaborate on this simplistic negation.  Surely, he knows and loves the symbolic realm (versus his “I’m not drinking blood when I drink from the chalice”). Sexual lovemaking is deeply symbolic too. Lovers are not just interpenetrating flesh and blood, but the Body of God, right? Gay and Straight couples could share a lot on this and learn to reverence our differences. This conversation could be a great sequel to his memoir.

Brian is blazingly honest. He tells us how we can grow from our embarrassments. One haunting confession is of his early attempt to drink turpentine, wanting to disappear himself and his pain. He was saved from this in a hospital, thank God. I don’t know of any other public speaker who bares his feelings so honestly about such an episode, and a variety of other topics: being fired at an early age from his journalist position when he came out; being rejected as “too moderate” by segments of the gay community; loaning his and Ray’s savings to a friend who can’t pay them back; and describing his aging body (and his partner’s) and how they cope with this. What a tour de force of how to become a Prince of a Man “…with the scars to prove it,” as the saying goes.

Time and again he tells–and shows–what his educational programs do to help people grasp the situation of LGBTQ people. For example, he tells audiences: “The horror of growing up gay is having a secret you don’t understand and that you’re afraid of telling your parents for fear they won’t love you anymore.” Then he interacts with these audiences, drawing them to grasp their unconscious bias in regard to sexual orientation in the workplace. Brian’s generosity in revealing his story early on as a young and handsome “Prince of a Boy” sets the tone for his memoir and his life. For instance, in an appendix, he makes available a list of resources on his website which provide access to all his videos and other materials that can be shared with others. Who does this except a man who in his own words says, “I have long believed that I am doing God’s will”?

He asks himself, and those who may read this: “Am I singing the song God taught me?” Jesus’ life and actions in serving and loving, summed up in Matthew 25:36 (“When you do it for one of these least ones, you do it for me.”) are the model for Brian’s life.

Ever the teacher and playful prince, in a closing chapter Brian also wonders aloud for the world which so struggles with binary and nonbinary issues today:

               A funny thing happened on my way to spiritual awareness

               I now celebrate that I am both male and female.

               I have a male body, male hormones, and male privilege, etc.

               but I am also able to tap the female in my brain and in my soul.

               I am so grateful for that gift. (p. 174)

Now that’s an image to play with!

Thank you, Brian McNaught, for the gift of your memoir.

—Father Paul Morrissey, OSA, June 7, 2025