Bishop Donal Lamont, who has died aged 92, was an outspoken critic of racial discrimination in Rhodesia, from where he was deported in 1977. This followed his conviction for offences under the Law and Order Maintenance Act and a sentence of 10 years' hard labour.
At his trial he had pleaded guilty, thereby preventing anyone else from incriminating themselves by testifying on his behalf. He also delivered a devastating critique of white minority rule in the African state, now Zimbabwe.
His prison sentence was later reduced to four years with three years suspended. Stripped of his Rhodesian citizenship, he appealed the decision to deport him on the grounds that he represented the Holy See in caring for the spiritual welfare of the Diocese of Umtali. He was kept under house arrest during the hearing of his appeal, which was turned down.
Donal Raymond Lamont was born on July 27th, 1911, in Ballycastle, Co Antrim. He completed his secondary education at Terenure College, Dublin, entered the Carmelite Order in Kinsale, Co Cork, in 1929 and was professed in 1930. He studied at University College, Dublin, where he obtained an MA in English. On completing his theological studies at Collegio Sant' Alberto, Rome, he was ordained in 1937.
In 1946, with two other Carmelites, he set out to work in what was then Southern Rhodesia, where they established a thriving mission. Appointed as the first superior of the Carmelite Mission in Rhodesia in 1953, he was in the same year appointed Prefect Apostolic. In 1957 he was appointed first Bishop of Umtali (now Mutare). The diocese covered the eastern highlands of Rhodesia, extending along the Mozambique border for 400 miles.
As bishop he encouraged African vocations and in 1959 founded a congregation of African sisters, Handmaids of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He was also responsible for the introduction to the diocese of other sisters and priests from Ireland and elsewhere to help in pastoral, educational and medical work.
Concern about the Catholic Church's mission to preach a gospel for all the people and to all the people dominated his thinking and actions. Engaging and articulate, he displayed immense energy as he denounced the racial discrimination that prevailed and which flagrantly violated human rights. His first pastoral letter, A Purchased People, in 1959, was translated into 14 languages and helped to alert the Western world to what was happening in Rhodesia.
Bishop Lamont attended the first session of the Second Vatican Council. His dramatic intervention from the floor of the council calling for a comprehensive schema on the work of the missions was greeted with applause and resulted in a completely rewritten document, Ad Gentes. In 1962 he was elected to the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity, remaining a member for 13 years. Notwithstanding the difficult situation in Southern Rhodesia, he fostered ecumenical links at grass-roots level and with church leaders. He was chairperson of the Bishops' Conference (1970-72) and president of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Rhodesia from 1974 until his expulsion.
In 1965, following the unilateral declaration of independence from Britain, the rights of the majority were swept aside and Rhodesian Africans found themselves without a say in decision-making. Laws were passed that drove Africans from the richer areas of land. Racial segregation was now the order of the day.
If the government did not change its ways, Bishop Lamont warned, the result would be violence and communism would become an attractive alternative. While avoiding any direct involvement in politics, he came to know Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Joshua Nkomo, and Robert Mugabe.
The war of independence began in 1972. Executions of guerrilla fighters soon followed. In an open letter to the government, Bishop Lamont wrote: "Conscience compels me to state that your administration, by its clearly racial and oppressive policies and by its stubborn refusal to change, is largely responsible for the injustices which have provoked the present disorder and it must in that measure be considered guilty of whatever misery and bloodshed may follow."
Shortly after this letter of protest he was charged with permitting some sisters under his jurisdiction to administer medicine to guerrilla fighters. At his trial he defended the morality of his decision not to act as an "informer" and not to refuse medical assistance to anyone "regardless of religion or politics". In exile he lectured extensively. Notre Dame University made him an honorary Doctor of Law and he was similarly honoured by Seton Hall University, New Jersey, Marymount College, New York, and Mount St Mary's University, Maryland. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.
The Kenyan government issued a commemorative postage stamp in 1979 in recognition of his work for the people of Africa. In 1980, after independence, Bishop Lamont returned to Umtali Diocese where he remained until a successor was appointed in 1982. Since his retirement, he has lived with the Carmelite Community in Terenure College.
Predeceased by his siblings, he is survived by nieces and nephews.
Donal Lamont: born July 27th, 1911; died August 14th, 2003