When Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ died in September 2020, friends, colleagues, and long-time readers mourned the loss of the biting wit and keen insight that characterized his writing, much of which was published under the pseudonym “Diogenes.”

In this episode, two men who knew and admired Fr. Mankowski—his fellow Jesuit, Fr. Joseph Fessio, and his editor at Catholic World Report and later Catholic World News, Philip F. Lawler—remember their friend, whose writing spanned decades and covered Church news, art and culture, politics, and more.

A sampling of Fr. Mankowski’s writings, most of which he published as Diogenes, has been collected in the new book, “Diogenes Unveiled: A Paul Mankowski Collection,” edited by Lawler and available at Ignatius.com: http://bit.ly/3X6UuNR

You can read more essays by Mankowski in the book “Jesuit at Large,” edited by George Weigel: https://ignatius.com/jesuit-at-large-jlerp/

You can find Philip F. Lawler’s writing at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/authors.cfm?authorid=3

And you can follow him on Twitter, @PhilLawler.