Ashwell house
Ashwell House is an Opus Dei-run hall of residence for female, situated in Old Street, London. It is well-connected by public transport to the colleges and institutions of higher education in London. Ashwell House is informed by the teachings of Opus Dei, a part of the Catholic Church.
There are roughly 40 residents within the House. Roughly 10 of those residents are permanent Opus Dei members (called the numeraries) between the age of 30-50 and another 20 are students residents who are numeraries or supernumeraries, and the rest are non-Opus Dei student residents.
Bedrooms do not have keys and cannot be locked from the outside. Residents' rooms are cleaned daily, so they are asked to vacate rooms between 10:00 am and 11:00am for cleaning. There is a curfew in place at 11pm on weekdays and midnight on weekends. Failure to meet the curfew or failure to attend birthday parties, dinners or house activities, would be dealt with severely. Punishments include scolding or expulsion from the house. There is no signed tenancy agreement, and this gives rises to incidences where a student is expelled suddenly during the middle of a term with no reason given.
Opus Dei members GeneRally have little respect for non-Opus Dei residents' privacy or freedom and would read non-Opus Dei residents' personal mail, restrict their reading material, instruct them on what to wear, or interfere with their personal lives by monitoring their daily activities.
Spiritual Activities
Ashwell House is a corporate undertaking of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church.
Other spiritual activities are organised such as seminars on Christian faith, retreats, and praying of the Rosary. Every year, Opus Dei members try to convert new residents by encouraging them to participate in these activities.
University residences, universities, publishing houses. . . are these ends? No, and what is the end? . . . to promote in the world the greatest possible number of souls dedicated to God in Opus Dei….
Opus Dei members form "teams" and develop strategies to attract new members. They discuss "promising recruits" at their daily get-togethers (for members only) and during spiritual direction with Opus Dei priests and lay members. Opus Dei members are typically taught to always have "friends" who are very close to joining. This leads to the utilization of friendship as "bait." Far too often, Opus Dei members drop friendships with those who are unlikely to join Opus Dei. Opus Dei members are required to report regularly to their lay Spiritual Directors on the progress of their personal recruiting. They also fill out statistics on their "friends," which may include the following: number of apostolic visits made; Opus Dei meditations attended; Opus Dei retreats made; confessions with an Opus Dei priest, etc. How does Opus Dei use this information? Why is it necessary? The recruits do not know they are being discussed and targeted in this way, and that their right to privacy is violated.