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{{EngvarB|date=March 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = His Excellency
|name = Alan Basil de Lastic
|native_name =
|native_name_lang =
|honorific-suffix =
|image =
|imagesize =
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|caption =
|office1 = [[Titular Bishop of Cissa]]
|term_start1 = 9 April 1979
|term_end1 = 2 July 1984
|predecessor1 =
|successor1 =
|office2 = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lucknow|Bishop of Lucknow]]
|term_start2 = 2 July 1984
|term_end2 = 19 November 1990
|predecessor2 = [[Cecil DeSa]]
|successor2 = [[Albert D'Souza]]
|office3 = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi|Archbishop of Delhi]]
|term_start3 = 19 November 1990
|term_end3 = 20 June 2000
|predecessor3 = [[Angelo Innocent Fernandes]]
|successor3 = [[Vincent Conçessao]]<ref name=Mangalorean200607>{{cite web
|url=http://mangalorean.com/browsearticles.php?arttype=mom&momid=55
|title=Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao
|work=Mangalorean Star
|date=July 2006
|accessdate=2012-03-06
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606200210/http://mangalorean.com/browsearticles.php?arttype=mom&momid=55
|archive-date=6 June 2012
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>
|office4 = [[Catholic Bishops' Conference of India|President, Catholic Bishops' Conference of India]]
|term_start4 = 1998
|term_end4 = 20 June 2000
|predecessor4 = [[Joseph Powathil]]
|successor4 = [[Cyril Baselios]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|1929|09|24|df=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Maymyo]], Burma
|death_date = {{death date and age|2000|06|20|1929|09|24|df=yes}}
|death_place = Poland
|restingplace =
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}}

'''Alan Basil de Lastic''' (24 September 1929 – 20 June 2000) was a prominent [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] (Latin Rite) clergyman in [[India]] who was installed as the fourth [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi|Archbishop of Delhi]] in November 1990.

==Birth and education==

Alan de Lastic was born in [[Maymyo]], Burma on 24 September 1929.<ref name=CathHeir/>
He was of mixed Burmese, Irish and French ancestry, with his grandparents on his father's side coming from [[Bourg-Lastic]] in France,
but he always considered himself wholly Indian.<ref name=Economist20000706/>
In 1942 his family escaped from Rangoon when the Japanese army entered Burma during the [[World War II]].<ref name=ICECbio/>
de Lastic completed his secondary education in [[Patna]], then moved to Calcutta where he spent five years studying marine engineering.<ref name=Outlookinterview/>
He worked in the [[Calcutta]] shipyards before being called to the priesthood.<ref name=Economist20000706/>

de Lastic began his ecclesiastical studies in 1951.<ref name=Outlookinterview/>
He was ordained on 21 December 1958 as a priest in Calcutta.<ref name=CathHeir/>
He went to Rome, where he completed his doctorate in dogmatic theology, and then spent a year at [[University College Dublin]] in Ireland, returning to India in the early 1960s.<ref name=Outlookinterview/>

==Clerical career==

de Lastic rose quickly in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church of India.<ref name=Economist20000706/>
On 9 April 1979 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Calcutta, and on 9 April 1979 was appointed [[Titular Bishop of Cissa]].<ref name=CathHeir/>
[[Mother Teresa]] was present at the ceremony in the Vatican when [[Pope John Paul II]] consecrated Alan as a Bishop on 27 May 1979.<ref name=ICECbio/>
On 2 July 1984 he was appointed Bishop of Lucknow, and on 19 November 1990 he was appointed Archbishop of Delhi.<ref name=CathHeir/>
He assumed office as archbishop on 27 January 1991.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.cbcisite.com/Delhi%20Archdiocese.htm
|title = Delhi Archdiocese History
|publisher = Catholic Bishops' Conference of India
|accessdate = 2012-03-09
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120505223308/http://www.cbcisite.com/Delhi%20Archdiocese.htm
|archive-date = 5 May 2012
|url-status = dead
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref>
In 1998 he was appointed President of the [[Catholic Bishops' Conference of India]].<ref name=ICECbio/>

Alan de Lastic died on 20 June 2000 in a car crash in Poland.
His funeral was held on 27 June 2000 in Delhi and was attended by about 15,000 people, far more than anticipated.
In addition to over 70 bishops, 400 priests and hundreds of nuns the funeral was attended by representatives of Bahais, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians.
President of India [[K. R. Narayanan]], [[Indian National Congress|Congress Party]] leader [[Sonia Gandhi]] and several federal ministers paid their respects.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-63714602
|work=National Catholic Reporter
|date=14 July 2000
|author=Malcolm, Teresa
|title=Thousands gather for archbishop's funeral
|accessdate=2012-03-09}}</ref>

==Achievements and recognition==

de Lastic founded and became president of the [[United Christians Forum for Human Rights]], an interdenominational group.
He was appointed a member of the [[National Integration Council]] of the Government of India.
By the late 1990s, Archbishop Alan de Lastic, [[John Dayal]] and a few other clergy and lay leaders had become the voices of the Indian Christian Community.<ref name=ICECbio/>
As the elected leader of the Catholic Bishops, in turn leaders of the 16 million Catholics in India out of 22 million Christians, the Archbishop energetically fulfilled his duty to act as a spokesman defending the Christian community when it came under attack.<ref name=Outlookinterview/>

In an interview shortly before his death he said "Today I feel ashamed to be an Indian ... when I see what is happening to the Christian community I worry about India's future... There's an all-round attempt to intimidate the Christian community and hamper the work they're doing to uplift the poor, particularly in tribal areas... [this is] the gravest challenge facing the community since independence". However, in the same interview he said "India has a great tradition of religious tolerance ... I will never accept that Hindus are attacking Christians. It is a few fanatics who are giving India a bad name. They should realise that they end up giving their own religion a bad name in the entire world".<ref name=Outlookinterview/>

==References==
{{reflist |refs=
<ref name=CathHeir>{{cite web
|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdelastic.html
|work=Catholic Hierarchy
|title=Archbishop Alan Basil de Lastic †
|accessdate=2012-03-09}}</ref>
<ref name=Economist20000706>{{cite web
|url=http://www.economist.com/node/349061
|title=Alan de Lastic
|date=6 July 2000
|work=The Economist
|accessdate=2012-03-09}}</ref>
<ref name=ICECbio>{{cite web
|url = http://www.evangelicalcouncil.org/stains_award2.html
|title = Alan Basil
|publisher = International Council of Evangelical Churches
|accessdate = 2012-03-09
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110830152621/http://www.evangelicalcouncil.org/stains_award2.html
|archive-date = 30 August 2011
|url-status = dead
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref>
<ref name=Outlookinterview>{{cite web
|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?209616
|work=Outlook India
|title=ALAN DE LASTIC - Call Of The Shepherd
|author=SABA NAQVI
|date=3 July 2000
|accessdate=2012-03-09}}</ref>
}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Lastic, Alan Basil}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mandalay Region]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in India]]
[[Category:Burmese people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Indian people of Burmese descent]]
[[Category:Indian people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Indian people of French descent]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Poland]]

Alan Basil de Lastic - Revision history

UpdateBot at 12:23, 23 May 2022