Every New York City mayor for at least the last 86 years has shown up when a new archbishop takes the reins at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Zohran Mamdani couldn't be bothered.

When 58-year-old Ronald Hicks became the 11th Archbishop of the New York Archdiocese at a 2 p.m. ceremony on Friday, accepting leadership from Cardinal Timothy Dolan in front of a packed cathedral, the mayor's chair sat empty. Mamdani — who was invited — chose instead to fire off a post on X.

"Congratulations to Archbishop Ronald Hicks on today's installment and welcome to New York City."

That was it. A tweet for 2.5 million Catholics.

A Schedule That Doesn't Add Up

City Hall's explanation, offered only after publication and after ignoring multiple outreach attempts from The Post on both Friday and Monday, was a "scheduling conflict." But Mamdani's own public schedule tells a different story.

The mayor attended an interfaith prayer breakfast at 10 a.m. at the New York Public Library — a short walk up Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's. The installation began at 2 p.m. His next public event was a winter weather press conference at 4 p.m. Four hours between appearances, and the cathedral was blocks away.

A City Hall spokesperson said Mamdani sent one of his deputy mayors — described as Catholic — in his place, and that the mayor and Archbishop Hicks would speak on Tuesday. When a reporter pressed on the absence, a Mamdani rep offered a reply that almost reads as parody:

"The mayor didn't go but he tweeted about it."

A Tradition Every Mayor Honored

The record stretches back decades. Fiorello LaGuardia attended Cardinal Francis Spellman's installation in 1939. Ed Koch — Jewish — attended Cardinal John O'Connor's installation in 1984. Rudy Giuliani was at St. Patrick's for Cardinal Edward Egan's installation on June 19, 2000. Michael Bloomberg — also Jewish — attended Cardinal Timothy Dolan's installation on April 15, 2009.

Koch and Bloomberg didn't share the faith. They showed up anyway, because the archbishop's installation isn't a religious obligation for a mayor — it's a civic one. The New York Archdiocese covers Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, and counties north of the city. Its 2.5 million Catholics represent one of the largest religious communities the mayor serves. Showing up signals that you govern for all of them.

Mamdani has been in office just over a month. He's already established that he won't.

What It Signals

The Catholic League didn't mince words:

"Mamdani has been in office for just over a month, and already he is signaling to Catholics that they are not welcome."

"The installation began a few hours after the Interfaith Breakfast at the New York Public Library; it is a short walk up Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick's Cathedral. He could easily have been there. Instead, he attended to business as usual."

Bill Cunningham, former communications director and top adviser to Mayor Bloomberg, was at Dolan's installation in 2009. He called Mamdani's absence a mistake:

"It was a missed opportunity for the mayor to show he wants to serve all the segments of the city. There are certain institutions the mayor of New York might want to take note of. One of them is the Catholic Church."

Ken Frydman, spokesman for Giuliani's 1993 campaign, was blunter:

"I thought Mamdani only disdains Jews who like Israel. Turns out, he also disdains Italian, Irish and other Catholic New Yorkers."

A Pattern Worth Watching

Consider what Mamdani did find time for in the same stretch. He put out a tweet marking World Hijab Day. At the very interfaith breakfast he attended that Friday morning, he suggested the United States should use the Prophet Muhammed's example on immigration.

No one objects to a mayor engaging with Islam. The problem is the contrast — enthusiastic public embrace of one faith community, conspicuous absence from the most significant Catholic ceremony in New York in over a decade. Interfaith outreach means all faiths, not just the ones a mayor finds ideologically comfortable.

Even Governor Kathy Hochul, a Catholic, missed the ceremony — but she was in Syracuse formally accepting a gubernatorial nomination at the Democratic convention. That's at least a verifiable conflict involving physical distance. Mamdani was in Manhatrtan, with a four-hour gap in his schedule, blocks from the cathedral.

The Civic Compact

New York's mayor doesn't need to be Catholic to sit in a pew at St. Patrick's for two hours. Koch proved that. Bloomberg proved that. The installation of an archbishop isn't about personal devotion — it's about showing a city's largest religious institutions that their mayor sees them, respects them, and intends to work alongside them.

Mamdani's X post said he and Archbishop Hicks share "a deep and abiding commitment to the dignity of every human being" and that he looks forward to "working together to create a more just and compassionate city where every New Yorker can thrive."

Fine words. But dignity starts with presence. You don't honor 2.5 million constituents with a tweet — especially one that misspells "installation" as "installment."

A month into office, and the mayor of New York is already telling certain New Yorkers which communities matter enough to show up for, and which ones get a post on social media. The cathedral was right up the street. He chose not to walk.