NYC Mayor Mamdani Breaks 86-Year Tradition, Freezes Out Catholic Clergy — Dolan Is ‘Ticked Off’
By Ben SmithFor nearly a century, New York City mayors have attended the installation of a new archbishop. Through war, fiscal collapse, crime waves, and cultural upheaval, they showed up.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan says the new mayor excluded Catholic clergy from his Jan. 1 inauguration and then skipped the installation of Archbishop Ronald Hicks, Dolan’s successor. Dolan did not downplay what that meant.
“So far, we were ticked off that he didn’t. I was ticked off he didn’t invite me to his inauguration. You know, most of the time the Archbishop of New York, among other religious leaders, gets invited. I was ticked off that he didn’t have he had few, few, few, few, few Catholics on his transition team. Okay? And then I was really ticked off that he didn’t show up at the installation, my successor. That defied precedent, the mayor not showing up to the installation.”
The word is precedent.
The tradition of mayors attending the archbishop’s installation dates back to 1939, according to reports. That civic custom survived world wars and political realignments. It did not survive the first weeks of Mamdani's term.
This was not a minor oversight. The Catholic Church is not a marginal presence in New York.
“About a third (32%) of adults in the New York City metropolitan area identified as Catholic, according to 2023-24 data from the Pew Research Center.”
One-third of the metro area is Catholic. Not one Catholic cleric was invited to the inauguration. The mayor did not attend the installation of the city’s archbishop. Those are facts.
Dolan framed the issue as civic respect, not institutional ego.
“One of the many things I love about New York is the amity among the different religions. We all get together. We all enjoy one another. The ecumenical and interfaith health of this city is phenomenal. And so I show up at all of them and they show up. And the political leaders always show up, not because of the clout of the Catholic Church, if it has any left, but just out of respect for the fact that a big chunk of the citizens of this great city profess the one holy, catholic and apostolic Church as their family of religious choice, and that the church has an amazing part to play in the social fabric of this metropolis.”
New York’s political class has disagreed with the archdiocese before. Fiercely. On abortion. On marriage. On education. On policing. But those fights took place within a shared civic arena where leaders still acknowledged the city’s largest Christian community's role.
Mamdani also openly identifies as a socialist. Dolan addressed that directly.
“They ought to bristle if somebody identifies himself or herself as a socialist. That’s not part of a that’s sort of the opposite of what America is.”
The cardinal said Mamdani described himself as an “economic socialist.” But when the same mayor who embraces that label freezes out Catholic clergy and breaks a civic practice that predates most living New Yorkers, the message is difficult to ignore.
Dolan’s language was not diplomatic.
“Ticked off.”
“Defied precedent.”
“They ought to bristle.”
In a city where nearly one-third of the population identifies as Catholic, that is not ceremonial tension. It is a public break.
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