Last December, Archbishop Étienne of Seattle sent a letter to St. Stephens informing the congregation that Rev. Arulanandam Robert Antony had been removed from ministry due to a violation of the Code of Conduct. Antony, a member of India-based Heralds of the Good News (HGN) was the second member of HGN removed from St. Stephens for violation of the Safe Environment Code. Father Jockim Xavier Dasan was removed in 2020 because he was found to have “violated ministerial boundaries.”

In a conversation outside St. James Cathedral in Seattle on Ash Wednesday, Étienne told clergy abuse survivors and advocates that Antony is currently under canonical investigation, information that was not shared with St. Stephens last December.

A canonical investigation is initiated when a bishop refers an allegation of misconduct that meets a level of credibility and seriousness requiring an investigation to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.