Cullen was particularly intent on promoting Roman Catholic religious education in Ireland. From the first days of his episcopate Cullen had planned and pursued a Roman Catholic university for Ireland. The university project was welcomed generally by the Irish at home and abroad and the beginnings of the institution in Dublin gave some promise. In 1862 the cornerstone of the New University building was laid with Archbishop Hughes of New York preaching on the occasion. John Henry Newman, whom he had invited to be Rector of the Catholic University, complained that the Archbishop treated him and the laity not as equals but as his subjects.