MACHIAS (AP) – A Roman Catholic priest and former state prison chaplain has been removed over ethical violations in his ministry at the Washington County jail, the Diocese of Portland said Saturday.

The Rev. Michael Sheridan, who was administrator of Holy Name Parish in Machias and St. Michael Mission in Cherryfield, was directed to return to his home diocese in Worcester, Mass., immediately. He already had planned to return to Worcester this summer.

The Diocese of Portland will give a full report to the Worcester diocese, which will decide whether and how to discipline him, said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Portland.

Jail officials reported the misconduct last weekend and a church investigation verified the complaint. Bernard said the diocese could not discuss the nature of the violations because it was a personnel matter. She did not know whether the violations would result in any criminal charges.

In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Richard Malone emphasized the violations did not involve children, but characterized them as “serious violations of our code” of ethics.

The letter was being given to parishioners at Masses this weekend, and crisis counselors were on hand to answer their questions.

Sheridan had the following assignments in the Diocese of Portland, according to church officials: St. Ann’s Parish in Indian Township and St. James the Greater Parish in Woodland from 1996 to 1998; chaplain at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston and the Super Maximum Facility and Minimum Facility in Warren from 1998 to 2000; administrator of Holy Name Parish in Machias from 2000 to May 2005; and administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Lubec from 2002 to 2003.

Malone also acknowledged in his letter that the parish has faced the sudden loss of other priests. Earlier this month, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court revived a high-profile case involving a former priest at Holy Name Parish.

The Rev. Raymond Melville was sued in 2000 by a man who said the priest had sexually molested him for seven years in Augusta, starting in 1985 when the victim was 13 years old.

A Superior Court judge ordered Melville to pay Michael Fortin $500,000, but dismissed the rest of Fortin’s lawsuit against the diocese and a former bishop. The judge cited an earlier Supreme Judicial Court ruling saying the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom protected the supervisory relationship between a bishop and priest from legal scrutiny.

On May 3, the state’s highest court reversed its earlier decision, ruling Fortin’s lawsuit against the diocese could proceed. The centerpiece of Fortin’s appeal was a memo in which church officials wrote they had kept their concerns about Melville quiet for fear of “liability and … scandal,” according to court records.

Melville served in Machias from 1992 to 1997, when he left the active priesthood.