Etienne was ordained a priest at St. Paul's Church in Tell City by Bishop
Gerald Gettelfinger for the
Archdiocese of Indianapolis on June 27, 1992. After his ordination, Etienne served as assistant pastor of Saint Barnabas Parish in
Indianapolis and assistant vocation director for the archdiocese. He returned to Rome in 1994, obtaining his Licentiate of Spiritual Theology from Gregorian University in 1995.
Bishop of Cheyenne On October 19, 2009,
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Etienne as bishop of Cheyenne. He succeeded Bishop
David L. Ricken. Etienne was consecrated at the Cheyenne Civic Center in
Cheyenne, Wyoming, by Archbishop
Charles J. Chaput on December 9, 2009. In 2010, Etienne requested an investigation by the
Vatican into sexual abuse allegations by 11 men against
Joseph Hart, a former bishop of Wyoming. Etienne suspended Hart from performing masses in 2015. In 2018, Etienne announced the establishment of an independent commission to examine the personnel files of the archdiocese over the past 50 years for any new credible accusations of sexual abuse by priests against minors.
Coadjutor Archbishop and Archbishop of Seattle On April 29, 2019,
Pope Francis named Etienne as coadjutor archbishop of Seattle. The appointment was publicized by Archbishop
Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The mass celebrating his "rite of reception" was held on June 7, 2019, at
St. James Cathedral in Seattle, Washington. On September 3, 2019, Etienne automatically become archbishop of Seattle, following the resignation of his predecessor, Archbishop
J. Peter Sartain. A few days later, Etienne announced that he would not reside in Connolly House, the mansion for the archbishop of Seattle. He stated: In 2021, Etienne announced his opposition to a proposal on the
eucharist by the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, stating that it had become politicized. In 2024, he participated in the
Synod of Bishops, emphasizing the importance of moving at "the pace of the Holy Spirit" in church deliberations. Following the
death of Pope Francis in April 2025, Etienne released a statement mourning the loss and highlighting the Pope's role as a universal shepherd for all of God's children. In May 2025, Etienne, together with Bishops
Joseph J. Tyson and
Thomas Daly, sued the State of Washington over Senate Bill 5375, a piece of legislation which would extend the
mandatory reporter status of the clergy. The bill would have required priests disclose information about child sex abuse that they learned from people during
confession. The prelates argued that this requirement violated their
religious freedom, as it contravened
canon law. It would necessitate the
excommunication of priests who complied with the law, and compromise the absolute privacy entailed in the
sacrament of penance. In July 2025, a federal judge granted a
preliminary injunction temporarily blocking enforcement of the law, ruling that "requiring disclosure of information priests hear in the confessional infringes on their First Amendment right to practice religion." Etienne in August 2025 visited
Nagasaki, Japan, to mark the 80th anniversary of the dropping of
nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and
Hiroshima during
World War II. The aim of the visit was to promote the 2017
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. == Personal life ==