The Top LGBTQ+ Catholic-Related Books of 2025

Earlier this month, QSpirit.net, an LGBTQ+ interfaith website focused on spirituality, published their Top LGBTQ Christian Books of 2025, featuring a diverse collection which is described as ranging from “user-friendly guides to serious academic studies and first-person accounts.” 

As a resource for our Catholic LGBTQ+ community, Bondings 2.0 wanted to highlight the books from their list that feature Catholic authors, themes, or perspectives. They represent a remarkable showing that demonstrates the diverse and vibrant conversations happening at the intersection of Catholic faith and LGBTQ experiences.

From Q Spirit’s Top List

Hey, Mary! by Andrew Wheeler (author) and Rye Hickman (illustrator): Wheeler, a Toronto-based author raised Catholic, tells the story of Mark, a young man struggling to reconcile his same-sex attraction with his Catholic faith. When Mark realizes he has a crush on another boy, he seeks guidance from his priest and a local drag performer, while also receiving unexpected wisdom from Catholic figures including Joan of Arc, Michelangelo, St. Sebastian, and Savonarola.

Choosing Love: What LGBTQ+ Christians Can Teach Us All About Relationships, Inclusion, and Justice by Dawne Moon and Theresa W. Tobin:  Both authors teach at Marquette University, a Jesuit institution in Milwaukee. Moon is a social science professor and co-director of gender and sexualities studies, while Tobin is an associate professor of philosophy. Their research explores what LGBTQ Christians can teach all believers about love, inclusion, and justice.

You Can, If You Want To: Navigating Christian Faith, Conscience, and Matters LGBTQ+ by James Alison: Alison is a Catholic priest and theologian who lived with the Dominican Order from 1981 to 1995. Now working as an itinerant preacher, lecturer, and retreat leader, he brings decades of theological reflection to questions of conscience and LGBTQ faith.

The Bible and Homosexuality: Expanding Our Image of God; The Outreach Guide edited by Michael J. O’Loughlin, Foreword by James Martin:  This guide features a foreword by Fr. James Martin, SJ, Jesuit priest, editor-at-large of America magazine, and founder of Outreach, an LGBTQ Catholic ministry. Editor Michael O’Loughlin is the former executive director of Outreach and will be Executive Editor of National Catholic Reporter starting January 5, 2026.

Mapping New Terrain in Queer Religious Scholarship: Essays in Honor of John Eastburn Boswell edited by Bernard S. Schlager:  This collection honors historian John Boswell (1947-1994), who converted to Catholicism as a teenager and remained an observant Catholic until his death. His 1980 book, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century, won the 1981 American Book Award for history and challenged the notion that Christian belief inherently causes intolerance toward gay people, while documenting a gay subculture in medieval Europe.

A Prince of a Boy: How One Gay Catholic Helped Change the World by Brian McNaught:  Dubbed “the godfather of gay diversity training” by the New York Times, McNaught chronicles his journey as an openly gay Catholic navigating the Church and corporate world.

Body Problems: What Intersex Priest Sally Gross Teaches Us About Embodiment, Justice, and Belonging by M. Wolff:  Sally Gross was an intersex South African anti-apartheid activist who became a Catholic priest in 1987 but was later stripped of clergy status for her gender identity. The book explores her complex life, and urges readers to rethink bodies and belonging, particularly as they relate to formations of gender and religion

Provoking Religion: Sex, Art, and the Culture Wars by Anthony Petro: Petro, an associate professor of religion and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Boston University, examines how debates over sex and art have shaped American religious culture. He has written extensively on Catholic studies and is currently working on a biography of queer Catholic writer Kathryn Hulme.

Gay Girl Prayers by Emily Austin: Canadian writer Austin, raised Catholic, offers prayers and spiritual reflections for queer women of faith.

How to Win a Million Dollars and BEEP Glitter!: A Mostly True Misadventure by Luke Stoffel: Stoffel’s novel follows a gay Catholic boyhood filled with get-rich-quick schemes and glitter-filled chaos, blending humor with the realities of growing up queer in the Church.

From Q Spirit’s Honorable Mentions

Theology and the LGBTQ+ Community by Luís Corrêa Lima SJ:  Fr. Lima holds a doctorate in history and teaches theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. His research focuses on Church history, modernity, and sexual and gender diversity, and he has devoted many years to pastoral ministry with the LGBTQ community.

The Place of the Queer Community (2SLGBTQIA+) in Catholic and Buddhist Spaces by Mackenzie Benesh: This comparative study examines how Catholicism and Buddhism engage with sexuality and gender identity, documenting progressive movements and interfaith dialogues aimed at creating more inclusive spiritual spaces.

Sacred Transition: A Trans Catholic’s Poetic Journey by Lee Evans: Evans offers a poetic narrative exploring his life as a transgender man navigating identity within a devout Catholic upbringing.

Synods and Sexuality: Pope Francis says ‘Relax!’ by Stephen Charles Lovatt:  Lovatt, a gay Catholic with a PhD in Physics who describes himself as a Platonist, examines Pope Francis’s approach to LGBTQ questions through the synodal process.

Why I Remain a Gay Catholic: A Spiritual-Sexual Journey by Paul F. Morrissey: Fr. Morrissey, OSA, has been a priest for 51 years and volunteers as a chaplain in the Philadelphia Prison System. His book explores why he continues to embrace both his gay identity and Catholic priesthood.

These books represent the breadth and depth of Catholic LGBTQ+ thought and experiences today. Whether you’re seeking spiritual nourishment, theological insight, or simply the companionship of others walking this path, these works offer wisdom for the journey. Thank you to Q Spirit for curating this important list.

–Wesley Cocozzello, New Ways Ministry, December 29, 2025