Mamdani skipped the archbishop's installation? Good.

We don't need any more pretense of respect for the Catholic faith

Zohran Mamdani didn’t attend the installation of Archbishop Ronald Hicks, becoming the first Mayor of New York in 87 years to skip the ceremony (although, to be fair, New York has seen only six new archbishops in that span of years).

The New York Post says that Mayor Mamdani “committed a cardinal sin…by dissing millions of area Catholics.” The Catholic League says the new mayor is “signaling to Catholics that they are not welcome.”

C’mon.

Politicians attend religious ceremonies for two reasons: to show their respect for the faith and to curry favor with voters. Does anyone actually believe that Mamdani respects the Catholic faith? Were any Catholic voters— of the sort who would notice his absence from the archbishop’s installation— likely to vote for him? Looking at it realistically, the mayor didn’t lose anything by failing to show up; he merely confirmed what everyone already knows.

And Archbishop Hicks didn’t lose anything, either. Do you suppose he actually wanted Mayor Mamdani to sit in a front pew for a photo-op? I sincerely hope not.

In a way, I find the mayor’s disinterest in the archbishop’s installation downright refreshing. We know where we stand with him; he knows where he stands with us. The clarity of the situation contrasts with the many occasions on which a prominent politician— sometimes a politician who masquerades as a Catholic— pays homage to the local prelate at public events, while all his other actions and utterances testify to his contempt for the Catholic faith.

Archbishop Hicks was not installed as a civic leader, to hobnob with the political elite. He was installed as the shepherd of the local Catholic flock. Why confuse him, or anyone else, about the identity of the wolves?