IIltud Evans—an appreciation

Extract

Illtud Alban Evans, though born in London, was quintessential a Celt. His roots lay deep in Wales and the subtle cosmopolitanism of his outlook, equally at home in Athens, Bangkok and Los Angeles, only served to emphasize his strong traditional loyalties. His health was never good but in spite of this he drove himself with extraordinary and our and enthusiasm. He combined a great precision of thought, for he was always most careful about his sources, with a capacity for vivid description that could illuminate the most difficult and obscure political and social problems: here one recalls the articles he wrote in The Tablet in the late 1960’s on conditions in the United States.

Before coming to the Order in 1937 he had worked as a journalist, and from the moment of his ordination he pursued his trade relentlessly in spite of frequent severe illnesses. Twice Editor of Blackfriars, where his first tenure of office was particularly fruitful, he also wrote and reviewed for Time and Tide and contributed regularly to The Tablet (under the pseudonym of Aldate) and also to The Times and Times Literary Supplement. While he was in America from 1966 to 1970 he was Associate Editor of Faith Now, a monthly supplement to The Sunday Visitor, as well as working regularly for other Reviews. His writing shows him to be a conservative of the best kind, one who treasures but is not uncritical of tradition and who is at the same time open to modern problems, while being helped by his gift of quick sympathy for those in distress and by those flashes of insight, amounting sometimes to near genius, which brought him close to deprived groups and those suffering from anxiety problems. He gave a lot of his time, particularly in the early part of his priestly life, to helping those in borstals and prisons, and not only did he give generous assistance to many individuals but he also studied closely prison conditions and the problems of penal reform. Some of the principles that lie behind this work are stated in the book edited by him called Light on the Natural Law.