New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has completed his first month in office and he’s already breaking tradition. Ronald Hicks, 58, became the 11th archbishop of the New York Archdiocese since 1850. Every mayor in the last one hundred years has attended the installation service of new archbishops, but Mamdani bucked that tradition by being noticeably absent. Instead, he acknowledged the new archbishop through a post on X. “Congratulations to Archbishop Ronald Hicks on today’s installment and welcome to New York City,” he wrote. “I know that Archbishop Hicks and I share a deep and abiding commitment to the dignity of every human being and look forward to working together to create a more just and compassionate city where every New Yorker can thrive.”

Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to inquiries about his absence, with one City Hall spokesman telling The New York Post that there was a scheduling conflict and that Mamdani had sent one of his Catholic deputy mayors, Helen Arteaga, in his stead. Mamdani’s absence, however, was viewed as a slight towards New York City Catholics, with the New York Daily News slamming Mamdani in an editorial. “Mayor Mamdani was wrong and frankly rude to skip Friday’s investiture of the new Catholic archbishop of New York, Ronald Hicks,” wrote the editorial board. “As leader of the city — the whole city — it is important for the mayor — any mayor — to participate in the major milestones of our varied communities and here Mamdani failed.” The board noted that Mamdani did not even attend Hicks’s first mass as a way to make up for missing the installation service. When questioned by the press about his absence during a sporting event, Mamdani responded, “I wasn’t able to make that event, but I do look forward to sitting down with the Archbishop, and I’m so excited, frankly, at his leadership in this city.” Neither he nor his office have given details of the specific event. Despite missing the installation, Mamdani did meet with Hicks four days later.

This is not the first time Mamdani has appeared to slight Catholics. There were no Catholic clergy present at his inauguration. There were also no Catholic attendees at an annual interfaith breakfast organized by his office. Of the 400 attendees invited of varying faith, not a single member of the Catholic faith was present. “He could easily have been there. Instead, he attended to business as usual,” wrote Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League. “One in 3 New Yorkers are Catholic, making them the largest faith community in the city. Mamdani’s professed interest in diversity and inclusion obviously hits a brick wall when it comes to Catholics. He wants nothing to do with them.”