A Board and Lodging Contract with the Assumptionist Community at Bethnal Green. (Londres) In France, the Religious Congregation of the Assumptionists have for a long time offered various types of housing for students and young professionals (men primarily), interested in a different kind of dwelling:
A Board and Lodging Contract with the Assumptionist Community at Bethnal Green. (Londres)
Preamble .
Convinced of the value of Community life shared in a common search for God, the Assumptionists want to help others discover the value of this experience. The Assumptionists at the Priory of Bethnal Green have, therefore, decided to offer more than just another lodging place. What they offer is an accommodation set within a framework that supports student studies and encourages an experience of living together that promotes human and spiritual enrichment. Besides the material aspects of the life of a group, which has its own importance because it involves commitment and working out a way of living together, the life at the Priory makes it possible for each participant to help form a small Community and adopt a personal project of discovering how to live a freer and happier life. The Foyer offers a new way of being Church in which young people are able to reflect on and deepen their faith.
This is a Catholic project nurtured by the spirit and dynamism of Assumptionist Religious seeking to offer an experience of Church that is open to innovation and creativity - a Church that seeks to respond to the hopes and concerns of people today. Anyone who is accepted for the Foyer is known as a “guest”.
1 The Fixed programme for the year
1.1 One evening a week (a day is fixed at the beginning of the year), all the guests in the Foyer will attend a community evening of sharing (no guests on that night):
Except in the case of absolute necessity, participation in the weekly meeting is essential.
1.2 Once a month there is an evening shared with the Assumptionist Community.
1.3 There will be 3 week-ends of reflexion and time away (dates set in September) which offer an opportunity for each guest to deepen his personal reflection, to help the guests to get to know each other better and provide an opportunity for longer reflection. These weekends are not optional. They will normally take place in a retreat centre. Each person will pay for these week-ends away.
1.4 You are always welcome to join the community for its daily community prayer and liturgical celebrations.
2. Practical arrangements.
2.1 Each participant has his own furnished room and his own toilet and shower that he will maintain himself. He commits to cleaning his room at least every two weeks and to cleaning his windows twice a year.
Each participant provides his own bed-linen.
You are not allowed to use pins or screws to attach items to the wall.
2.2 The following areas are recognised as “common areas”, in the sense that they are shared by all the guests of the house:
At the beginning of the year Maintenance chores will be allocated to the guests of the house. The cleaning of these common areas will take place once a week. However, each guest is responsible for the cleanliness and tidiness of these common areas.
On the first floor, the library is normally reserved to the religious in the community and is not open to the guests of the foyer except by permission.
2.3 The Kitchenette.
Each guest has the possibility of preparing his meals and the use of the kitchen and its utensils. Each guest will wash-up the utensils and crockery used and put them away after use. Always keep the kitchen clean and tidy.
Two small refrigerators are at the disposal of the guests: you are advised to label your food to avoid disputes. You are not permitted to use the food of another guest without his specific permission.
2.4 A flat roof is available when the weather is pleasant…
2.5 Laundry facilities are available for your use.
2.6 Washing powder etc. is provided.
2.7 Telephone: each guest is able to receive outside calls but not able to phone out from his room. You are advised to use your mobile phone for all your phone calls. For which there are not restrictions to its use.
Please ask your friends and family not to ring the house phone between 22h00 and 8h00.
2.8 If a guest has a car, it can only be parked on the street. You will need to obtain a parking permit from the Local Council, Tower Hamlets. The community has no parking facilities.
2.9 Any equipment using gas and/or electric such as domestic irons, stoves, back-up heaters,… as well as alcohol are prohibited from the rooms. Radios, hi-fis are permitted but must be used with discretion so as not to disturb the other guests.
2.10 There is a television in the kitchenette. Its use is subject to the agreement of the other guests present. Private TVs are not excluded, provided their use does not disturb other guests. Personal TVs can only use internal aerials.
3. A responsible and autonomous life.
3.1. The responsible and autonomous life of each guest provides the basis of a convivial and mature time together. Keys to the house and your room are available on arrival. Each guest is responsible for any visitors he allows into the community. The keys can neither be lent nor reproduced. In the event that they are lost or stolen, the guests will immediately warn the Religious responsible for the house. The cost of new Keys is the responsibility of the guest.
3.2 It is possible for you to invite friends and parents to the house. However, great attention must be given to the life and timetable of the other guests and the Religious Community in the house. It follows that you are also responsible for any preparation and cleaning arising from the stay of your visitors.
It is not permitted for any other person to sleep in your room. A guest room is available for the occasional overnight stay. Permission for this must always be requested from the Religious in charge of the community.
In all cases, it is strongly advised that all visits for the coming week be announced during the weekly meeting for the participants in the project.
3.3 Out of respect for the work and rest of each member of the community, please keep the sound of your audio-visual appliances and conversations at a level that they does not annoy your neighbours. Silence in the rooms is requested between 22h00 and 07h00 (08h30 at week-ends).
3.4 There is no smoking anywhere in the house .
3.5 The Assumptionists take no responsibility for the disappearance of money or any object belonging to the guests.
3.5 We ask you to take proper care of the building and the materials placed at your disposal. A deposit of 250 Euros will be requested on your arrival. This will be returned to you when you leave, subject to deductions made for any extraordinary expenses including the repair for anything broken or damaged or suffering abnormal wear and tear.
4. Participation in the costs .
4.1 To support the running expenses of the house we ask for a contribution of 299 Euros a month.
4.2 This participation in the costs covers the maintenance of a furnished room, the access to other common areas, electricity, water and heating, as well as the provision of laundry facilities.
4.3 The contribution will be given in advance, before the 5 th day of each month, payable to the “The Assumptionists”.
5. Terms of residence .
5.1 This contract is from 1st September of the year when you begin your stay until 30th June the following year - your room must be vacated by the following day. In the event that you leave during the year, your contribution for any month will not be returned. Your inscription is, therefore, valid for 10 months.
5.2 The project is under the responsibility of N.N.
who oversees its smooth operation and organisation. He also supervises the regular contributions made by the guests in the Foyer and he has the right to enter any part of the house.
He reserves the right, if an inhabitant does not respect one or more clauses of this contract, to draw his attention to it and to ask him to respect his commitment. If the non-observance of the letter and spirit of this document continues, he may ask the person concerned to leave the house giving him 15 days notice. In the same way, if the share in the expenses remains unpaid for 6 months, he will ask the person concerned to leave the house within 8 days.
5.3 Each guests will meet N.N. the person responsible of the project once a quarter to share with him his experience at the Foyer.
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