World Orthodox Participation in the Papist Mass Installing Scandal-Plagued RC Bishop McElroy as Archbishop

Orthodox America is reeling yet again after reports surfaced of their leaders  participating in a Papist Mass, a move traditional Orthodox are calling a slap in the face to the Fathers and tradition of the Church. According to a scathing exposé by Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A., published on The Orthodox Traditionalist blog, this isn’t just a one-off—it’s a symptom of deeper rot within the World Orthodox establishment, who’ve cozied up to Rome despite centuries of warnings from saints and synods.

The author points to an “ecumenical service” this week where Orthodox clergy allegedly joined a Roman Catholic Mass for the installation of Roman Catholic Archbishop Robert McElroy, the scandal-plagued San Diego hierarch recently tapped as Cardinal of Washington, D.C. For traditionalists, this is heresy squared—violating canons like the 33rd of Laodicea, which forbids prayer with heretics. And heretics did so abound: along with Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Archdiocese, who so often makes these pages, the head of the OCA was present, as well as a number of non-Chalcedonian self-titled “Orthodox”.

But the real kicker? It’s happening against the backdrop of McElroy’s own baggage. Back in 2016, researcher Richard Sipe handed the Papal Bishop a dossier detailing sexual misconduct by clergy, including then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick– and McElroy simply sat on it, letting McCarrick’s abuses fester until they blew up publicly in 2018. Critics say he’s a protector of predators, not a shepherd—yet here he is, hosting allegedly Orthodox and various and sundry heretical clergy in an ecumenical love-fest under the ausipices of a Roman Catholic installation service.

This is no accident. World Orthodox leaders, seduced by ecumenism, are trading their heritage for a seat at Rome’s table, ignoring the Fathers who’d rather die than dine with “papists.”

For the faithful of World Orthodoxy, it’s yet another regular gut punch. The Church Fathers didn’t battle centuries’ worth of heresies for kisses in the altar with Rome, especially under a figure like McElroy, whose scandals cast a long shadow. And yet here we are. At NFTU, we find this perverse behavior embarrassing for World Orthodoxy… but at least here in America, it remains unsurprising.