By Msgr. Noel Burtenshaw

(Special to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN)

Father Kevin Duignan, Pastor of St. Robert’s Church in Atmore, Alabama, was taking a short quiet doze on Thursday afternoon when the good news arrived.

The exhausted pastor was not in the arms of his favorite rectory armchair. He was sitting on a bunk bed on Death Row in Holman Prison. He had not slept a wink in four days.

It was the television that brought the news prayed for by Father Duignan along with millions of others across the nation. Condemned murderer John Louis Evans III, scheduled to die in the electric chair at midnight, had received a stay of execution.

Relief and excitement still resounded in the voice of the Irish priest, when contacted Saturday morning by THE GEORGIA BULLETIN. “Johnny had just gone to another room above death row to tape a last message for his mother in Beaumont, Texas, when the news broke. The cells along the row erupted in cheers.”

Ironically, the only sign of dejection noticed was in the eyes of Evans. He had insisted for four months that the execution should take place on schedule. But changes are gradually taking place in the 29 year-old Texan. Father Duignan played a big part in those changes.

“He wept on hearing the news and then we walked into the yard,” said the priest. “He had asked that God give him a sign. Just a week earlier his mother, Betty, pointed to my interest as that sign. Now Johnny is seeing other signs too.”

“After our talk in that little yard, he turned to me and said, ‘Go home Father and get some sleep.’”

Sleep was Father Duignan’s greatest need. Days and nights had blurred into one long nightmare of action, as the 56 year-old pastor had fought the dwindling hours of John Evans’ life.

“I counseled him and brought the consolation of the Sacraments to him. We were more than penitent and priest. We became fast friends.”

Moments after Duignan had risen from 12 hours of sleep, the South Alabama pastor reviewed the thoughts and actions he had considered and taken on behalf of his new friend.

“Fantastic ideas came to my mind. At one stage, I thought of calling Cardinal Medeiros in Boston and asking him to get Rose Kennedy to make a public statement for Johnny.”

“On Wednesday, as the execution neared, I did call the Apostolic Delegate (to the United States) Archbishop Jadot. The Archbishop was at the Josephinum Seminary in Ohio attending a meeting. He most kindly showed his concern and offered to help in any way possible. I asked him to send a telegram to Governor James, reminding him of the opposition of million of Catholics to capital punishment. But I cannot say if the telegram was sent.”

The Alabama Governor did contact Father Duignan asking about the condition of Evans and promised to call again on Thursday, before execution time. In the meantime, the stay was granted.

The greatest struggle experienced by the priest, who has been pastor in Atmore for two years, was with the condemned man’s attitude. “He was depressed and unmotivated to live. On one hand, he considered himself no good; on the other, he knew he should struggle for life.”

The see-saw battle went on during weeks of conversation and prayer. Mass was forbidden by prison rule on Death Row but the reminder of his Catholic family upbringing brought results. “He’s changed,” says the grateful priest. “Spiritually he’s a new man. Now he wants to fight, he will meet with his lawyer and there’s time for us all to work.”

Father Duignan was ordained in 1952 for the Diocese of Mobile. He had studied in All Hallows College in Dublin, Ireland, and at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He has held many parish assignments in the South Alabama Diocese.

Two years ago, after a serious operation, he was assigned to the small unhurried parish of St. Robert. Life and ministry was to be less hectic in his new church. “The hand of God works in strange ways,” said Father Kevin, “these past weeks have shown me the struggles of a human soul as I have never experienced them before. I have come to know this young man. I love him as a son.”

In the background, through the crackling sounds of a long-distant phone call, the rectory door bell was impatiently ringing. More reporters, more questions, more opinions.

The last words Father Kevin Duignan had heard from newly reprieved John Louis Evans III were, “Go home, Father, and get some sleep. We are both worn out.”

Obviously it was not to be for the pastor of St. Robert’s.