English friend welcoming priest travelling in New York (6,5)
I believe the answer is:
empire state
'new york' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'english friend welcoming priest travelling' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'friend' becomes 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend).
'welcoming' indicates putting letters inside (in sense of 'inviting in').
'travelling' is an anagram indicator.
'priest' anagrammed gives 'pirest'.
'mate' placed around 'pirest' is 'mpirestate'.
'e'+'mpirestate'='EMPIRE STATE'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for empire state that I've seen before include "building" , "One nickname for New York" .)