The Monastery (themonastery.org) in Seattle is not affiliated with the real Universal Life Church in Modesto, California. Some of their leadership were reportely involved with the ULC Monastery in Tucson, Arizona, which is a long-time, legitimate associate of the church.  Brother Daniel Zimmerman, president of the ULC Monastery in Tucson, reports that, without permission, the group in Seattle transferred the domain name and assets of theTucson-based Monastery (ulc.org) to their control.  That domain name now forwards to themonastery.org

This has caused a great deal of confusion, and the Seattle group seems to be attempting to suggest to their visitors that they are part of the original ULC and that their entity has been in existence since 1959, neither of which is true.

Church headquarters terminated all ties with them years ago, after it came to the church's attention that the ulc.org domain name was no longer under the control of the legitimate ULC Monastery in Tucson.  Ordinations and other transactions conducted with "The Monastery" since that time are entirely unrelated to the original ULC in Modesto.   A marriage in Pennsylvania, in which a person ordained by "The Monastery" presided, was recently nullified by a court on the basis that it was not a properly ordained minister, and other states have rejected their ordinations for purposes of officiating marriage as well.

Here are some links to stories related to the activities and leadership of the Seattle group, for your reference:

Seattle Weekly

Wikipedia

TheStranger.com

Seattle Court Records

Arizona Star

USA Today

Federal District Court 1

Federal District Court 2

Federal District Court 3

The posted address for the Monastery is for a UPS Store (a mail drop)

They claim to have been formed many years ago, but state records show otherwise