Last night, after writing a piece in which I quoted the late Father Paul Mankowski, I realized that the day was the 5th anniversary of his sudden death from a brain aneurysm.
Veteran CatholicCulture readers knew Father Mankowski primarily as “Diogenes,” the pseudonymous writer who contributed hundreds of witty comments to this site. Other faithful Catholics knew him as…
Well, that’s the problem. Most good Catholics—even most well-read Catholics—didn’t know Father Mankowski, either under his own name or as “Uncle Di.” That’s a shame, because, as I wrote in an obituary notice, comparing him with all the famous intellectuals I have met in my lifetime: “Among them, for sheer full-spectrum intellectual wattage, none was more brilliant than my friend, Father Paul Mankowski, who died suddenly this week.”
Sadly, because he was silenced by his Jesuit superiors, Father Mankowski’s written work did not gain the wide audience that it deserved. His pseudonymous writings delighted a small but appreciative audience, until he was ordered to stop writing as Diogenes, and he obeyed that order. Since his untimely death, three books have been publishing containing collections of his published and unpublished thoughts. But there was more treasure in that mine. Even after his death, his fellow Jesuits may have successfully silenced him; his laptop computer—containing who knows what treasures—disappeared from his room even before he was declared dead.
Ah, but my laptop, with the hundreds of email messages that I had received from him, remains intact. So, for the benefit of those who never read the work of either Father Mankowski or Diogenes, and for the delectation of those who won’t mind reading another sample—and in the fervent hope that it might provide some useful guidance for a newly bishop interested in serious reform—herewith one substantial offering. Along with several friends, Father Mankowski had put together a series of pointers for a bishop newly assigned to lead a diocese. With his encouragement, I posted a somewhat shorter (and bowdlerized) version under my own name, nearly fourteen years ago. But this was primarily Father Mankowski’s work.
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