Mayor Zohran Mamdani dedicated a cardinal sin final week by dissing hundreds of thousands of space Catholics as the primary metropolis mayor in practically 100 years — and probably ever — to skip the native archbishop’s set up.
Ronald Hicks, 58, on Friday grew to become the eleventh archbishop of the New York Archdiocese since 1850, accepting the reins of energy from Cardinal Timothy Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in a packed historic ceremony steeped in ritual.
One of many occasion’s traditions — relationship again to at the least 1939, when then-New York Metropolis Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia attended the set up of well-known prime clergyman Francis Spellman — had been the attendance of the Huge Apple’s sitting mayor.
A minimum of till this 12 months, when Mamdani determined he had higher issues to do than assist honor the brand new chief of one of many largest teams of Catholics within the nation — together with lots of of 1000’s of his personal constituents.
Hizzoner — who previously week put out a tweet marking World Hijab Day and recommended on the annual interfaith prayer breakfast that the US ought to use the Prophet Muhammed’s instance on immigration — skipped out on the ceremony altogether, marking the event with nothing greater than a tepid put up on X.
“Congratulations to Archbishop Ronald Hicks on right now’s installment and welcome to New York Metropolis,” Mamdani wrote Friday afternoon.
“I do know that Archbishop Hicks and I share a deep and abiding dedication to the dignity of each human being and stay up for working collectively to create a extra simply and compassionate metropolis the place each New Yorker can thrive.”
Metropolis Corridor declined to remark after a number of outreach makes an attempt by The Publish each Friday and Monday about his conspicuous absence from the ceremony, which began at 2 p.m.
When one other reporter requested Metropolis Corridor concerning the obvious misstep, a Mamdani rep replied, “The mayor didn’t go however he tweeted about it” — as if taking a number of seconds to put up one thing on X absolved him of what critics name a thumb within the eye of Catholics in every single place.
“Mamdani has been in workplace for simply over a month, and already he’s signaling to Catholics that they aren’t welcome,” fumed New York’s Catholic League in an announcement.
“The mayor of New York Metropolis historically attends the set up of the brand new archbishop of New York, however Mamdani — who was invited — ghosted the occasion,” it stated.
“The set up started a number of hours after the Interfaith Breakfast on the New York Public Library; it’s a quick stroll up Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick’s Cathedral,” the league stated, referring to an occasion Mamdani made time for hours earlier.
“He may simply have been there. As an alternative, he attended to enterprise as regular.”
The mayor’s public schedule for that day solely listed the prayer breakfast at 10 a.m., adopted by a winter climate press convention at 4 p.m.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who’s Catholic, was in Syracuse formally accepting the nomination for an additional time period on the Democratic conference on the time of the ceremony and was unable to attend.
Invoice Cunningham, former communications director and prime adviser to former New York Metropolis Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who attended the set up ceremony for Dolan in 2009, advised The Publish he believes it was a “mistake” for Mamdani to not present up.
“It was a missed alternative for the mayor to indicate he needs to serve all of the segments of the town,” Cunningham stated.
“There are specific establishments the mayor of New York would possibly need to be aware of. One among them is the Catholic Church,” he stated, noting that Catholics take note of how the church and its establishments are handled.
The naming of a brand new archbishop has been an occasion that has traditionally transcended a mayor’s personal religion.
Bloomberg is Jewish, as was late former Mayor Ed Koch — and each attended New York archbishop installations throughout their respective tenures. Then Mayor-Koch was current for the ceremony of Cardinal John O’Connor in 1984.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic, was at St. Patrick’s for the set up of Cardinal Edward Egan in 2000.
Giuliani’s ex-spokesman for his 1993 marketing campaign, Ken Frydman, took a dim view of the present mayor sitting out the occasion.
“I believed Mamdani solely disdains Jews who like Israel,” Frydman advised The Publish. “Seems, he additionally disdains Italian, Irish and different Catholic New Yorkers.”
The New York Archdiocese, which incorporates Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island and a few counties north of the town, is dwelling to an estimated 2.5 million Catholics.
