Announcement Concerning the Anglican Communion Institute

We have seen a good deal of speculation and innuendo on the internet and wish to respond with the following statement on behalf of the Anglican Communion Institute.

1. The “merger” of the ‘Anglican Institute’ and SEAD in 2004 was an informal one of effort and workers, not structure or finances. ACI has been a name associated with a ministry of service, not a formal organization. SEAD dissolved, but AI has (we were told) remained incorporated and functions as such, though we have no knowledge of its operations. That is a matter for its own board.

2. ACI is not now and was never incorporated. Its “board” has been a loosely-knit network of sympathetic consultants within our work on behalf of the Communion. There was and is no budget, no compensation, and no formal structure.

3. All ACI-sponsored conferences (there were three – at Grace Church in Colorado Springs, Albany, and West Texas) were covered by fees paid by participants, and by subventions by hosts. ACI was not involved financially in any formal way, but rather provided speakers/teachers and led discussions.

4. Fr. Armstrong raised money to cover some travel reimbursements for ACI-affiliated participants in conferences and meetings, in the same way that rectors frequently find the funds to cover costs for conferences and travel in which they and colleagues are involved. Grace Church also covered the costs for the ACI website. Finally, in one case, there was a small non-compensatory sabbatical grant worked through the local diocese. Much of this money may have been provided by Grace Church directly and is an internal Grace Church matter (and to this extent only represents a “ministry of Grace Church”). Any account labeled “ACI,” “AI” or “ACI/AI” at Grace Church is purely a Grace Church affair, and has no formal, or direct, or informal relationship with the many individuals involved in ACI’s work over the past 3 years, except those at Grace Church.

5. All attempts, benign or malicious, at associating ACI, as an organization or group of people or particular individuals, with the current financial problems at Grace Church are without foundation.

6. We wish Grace Church, Don Armstrong, and the Diocese of Colorado well in sorting out the current conflict in an open, honest, charitable, and just fashion.

In consequence of the legal and ecclesiastical struggles Grace Church and Fr Armstrong are now engaged with, we judge it proper to dissolve our relationship with the web-site and all activities of Grace Church (CANA or TEC), so that the charges of the Presentment and other matters of public trust and ecclesial jurisdiction might be resolved without interference.

We will continue to work on matters related to the Anglican Communion in the same way as previously.

Christopher Seitz, President
Philip Turner, Vice-President
Ephraim Radner, Senior Fellow