“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
This phrase was not spoken by Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong or Fidel Castro, but rather by the new Mayor of New York City: democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.
New York residents have reason for concern: the millions of people who were murdered under the “embrace” of collectivism offer a sobering precedent of where Mamdani’s rhetoric ultimately leads. Catholics in the city should be especially worried, given that Mamdani’s ideology has historically pinpointed the Church as the primary obstacle to the socialist vision of collectivised “rights”.
Mamdani is already making sure Catholics know that they are not welcome in his city.
Just recently, Mamdani’s first annual interfaith breakfast welcomed leaders from numerous religious groups. Catholic priests, who represent over a third of Mamdani’s constituents, were conspicuously absent. Hours later, Mamdani made history as the first New York City mayor in almost a century to skip the installation of the local Catholic archbishop.
Mamdani met with the newly installed Archbishop Ronald Hicks days later but this belated and private interview felt like cheap compensation after two public snubs – both of which became PR nightmares too predictable to be accidental. Numerous Catholics criticised Mamdani for wanting “nothing to do with Catholics”, while others questioned whether Mamdani held secret anti-Catholic “animus”.
How could Mamdani not resent the institution that has challenged his ideas for centuries? Like all good socialists before him, Mamdani seems to recognise that the Catholic belief in individual human dignity and rights, and staunch defence of them, endangers his utopian dreams of a collectivised “good” in New York.
He is right to be concerned about the Catholic complication. The Catholic Church has historically been a leading voice against the evils of “collectivism”, with Catholic figures such as Pope Pius XI proclaiming that “no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist”. Pope St John Paul II, who experienced the evils of collectivism firsthand, similarly claimed that socialism increases alienation while contributing to “a lack of basic necessities and economic inefficiency”.
Today, Gen Z and far-left progressives in New York are so enamoured with Mamdani’s promises of free buses, childcare and city-run grocery stores that they seem to have forgotten the truth that subordinating individual, God-given rights to a socialist’s idea of the “collective good” always results in the justification of evil and persecution.
Mamdani’s support for progressive agendas such as abortion and transgender ideology are prime examples. Mamdani’s belief in women’s “right to choose” abortion, and support for taxpayer funding of it, aligns with his view that individual rights and dignity – i.e. those of the unborn child and the consciences of taxpayers – must be subordinated to the collective good. This worldview has resulted in the deaths of over 63 million American babies since 1973. American taxpayers, the majority of whom oppose this use of their hard-earned funds, foot the bill.
Mamdani’s belief that abortion promotes the “collective good” also rests on the premise that it is necessary or empowering for women. In truth, most post-abortive women say they would have preferred to be a parent to the child if they had more resources or support.
Mamdani has decided to remove this inconvenient inconsistency by attacking the evidence that it exists: pregnancy resource centres (PRCs). These organisations provide babies and mothers with an abundance of necessary resources and daily contradict the claim that abortion is necessary or empowering. For this reason, Mamdani is trying to shut them down across the city – denying thousands of babies and mothers critical resources in the name of “collectivism”.
Similarly, Mamdani has been an outspoken advocate of gender ideology, especially transgender surgeries and hormone “therapies”. Mamdani has even opposed attempts to protect vulnerable children from permanent gender transition procedures, which many minors ultimately regret and about which leading medical groups are voicing hesitancy.
As a result, more doctors will violate their Hippocratic Oath to do no harm, and more children will grieve their altered bodies and fertility for the rest of their lives – all because Mamdani and his supporters refuse to undermine support for the collective “good” of transgender acceptance by admitting these procedures are harmful.
The Catholic Church is not as reticent to expose the truth behind these or any other “collective goods” that Mamdani champions. The Church has never shied away from the fact that collectivism in any form typically results in widespread persecution, especially for people of faith, and a decreased quality of life for all.
Perhaps this is why, just over a month into his term, Mamdani is effectively giving Catholics the middle finger. If precedent is a good indicator, Mamdani should know that the Church will not stand idly by while he justifies evil and dismantles American freedoms in the name of collectivism. This enlightenment is already being facilitated by Catholics such as Bishop Robert Barron, who voiced opposition to Mamdani’s claims from day one.
On January 2, the day after Mamdani was sworn into office, Bishop Barron condemned Mamdani’s inaugural address that touted collectivism. “For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism,’” Bishop Barron posted on X.
Mamdani took these words to heart – not by rethinking his collectivism, but by quite literally sparing Catholics a seat at his decision-making table.
