People have slammed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for skipping the ceremony installing the new archbishop of the New York Archdiocese.
Ronald Hicks, 58, became the new archbishop on Friday, the 11th archbishop in the archdiocese’s history since 1850.
Every sitting NYC mayor, regardless of religion, has attended the event since 1939, when then-Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia attended the installation of Cardinal Francis Spellman as archbishop.
The Catholic League went off on Mamdani for stiffing “Catholics for the third time.”
“Mamdani has been in office for just over a month, and already he is signaling to Catholics that they are not welcome,” wrote Bill Donohue. “He is also telling Jews that either they side with him in bashing Israel, or they, too, can take a walk.”
Donohue pointed out:
Representatives of the clergy from several religions were present at the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani. But no Catholic priest was there.Representatives of the clergy from several religions were present at Mamdani’s Interfaith Breakfast on February 6. But no Catholic priest was there. Significantly, the UJA-Federation of New York, the New York Board of Rabbis and the Anti-Defamation League, all of which had previously sponsored this meeting, declined to do so this year.The mayor of New York City traditionally attends the installation of the new archbishop of New York, but Mamdani—who was invited—ghosted the event. The installation began a few hours after the Interfaith Breakfast at the New York Public Library; it is a short walk up Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.He could easily have been there. Instead, he attended to business as usual.
One in three New Yorkers is Catholic.
A City Hall spokesperson said “that Mamdani had a scheduling conflict, so instead sent one of his deputy mayors, who is Catholic.”
City Hall told another reporter, “The mayor didn’t go but he tweeted about it.”
Oh, okay. That makes it all better.
The New York Post reported that Mamdani’s schedule only included the prayer breakfast and a press conference at 4 PM.
The ceremony began at 2 PM and lasted about one hour and 50 minutes.
Bill Cunningham, former communications director and top advisor to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, reminded Mamdani “that Catholics pay attention to how the church and its institutions are treated.”
Cunningham is not wrong.
Here’s the whole ceremony and Hicks’ homily. I love my faith, especially our traditions. So beautiful.
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