{"id":30826,"date":"2026-02-17T14:57:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=30826"},"modified":"2026-02-17T14:57:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:57:56","slug":"mamdani-criticized-for-skipping-archbishop-installation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/02\/mamdani-criticized-for-skipping-archbishop-installation","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani Criticized For Skipping Archbishop Installation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Spencer Platt \/ Instagram | Right: Zohran Mamdani \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has completed his first month in office and he\u2019s 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. \u201cCongratulations to Archbishop Ronald Hicks on today\u2019s installment and welcome to New York City,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s office did not immediately respond to inquiries about his absence, with one City Hall spokesman telling The New York Post<\/em><\/a> that there was a scheduling conflict and that Mamdani had sent one of his Catholic deputy mayors, Helen Arteaga, in his stead. Mamdani\u2019s absence, however, was viewed as a slight towards New York City Catholics, with the New York Daily News<\/em> slamming Mamdani in an editorial. \u201cMayor Mamdani was wrong and frankly rude to skip Friday\u2019s investiture of\u00a0the new Catholic archbishop of New York, Ronald Hicks,\u201d wrote the editorial board. \u201cAs leader of the city \u2014 the whole city \u2014 it is important for the mayor \u2014 any mayor \u2014 to participate in the major milestones of our varied communities and here Mamdani failed.\u201d The board noted that Mamdani did not even attend Hicks\u2019s 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, \u201cI wasn\u2019t able to make that event, but I do look forward to sitting down with the Archbishop, and I\u2019m so excited, frankly, at his leadership in this city.\u201d Neither he nor his office have given details of the specific event. Despite missing the installation, Mamdani did meet with Hicks four days later.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cHe could easily have been there. Instead, he attended to business as usual,\u201d wrote Bill Donohue<\/a>, president of the Catholic League. \u201cOne in 3 New Yorkers are Catholic, making them the largest faith community in the city. Mamdani\u2019s professed interest in diversity and inclusion obviously hits a brick wall when it comes to Catholics. He wants nothing to do with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has completed his first month in office and he\u2019s 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":30829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMamdani Criticized For Skipping Archbishop Installation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani skips Catholic archbishop installation, breaking century-long tradition and drawing backlash from Catholic leaders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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