Priest Loses Home to Foreclosure; Family Booted

She didn't know when she moved in

Her lease runs until next May but Shelly Ryan says she and her family have to be out of the house by Wednesday.

They rented it last May, only to learn foreclosure proceedings against the landlord began in March.  "This Wednesday is, I guess you could say, the dun-dun-dun day," said Ryan.

The respondent on the lis pendens papers, the formal notice of pending foreclosure, is William Sokolowski, the landlord - Father William Sokolowski, the pastor of Saint Maria Goretti Roman Catholic Church, just up Woodtick Road from the house.  His receptionist says Sokolowski is away for the week.  By the time he comes back, the family may be gone.

Ryan and her partner and their four children don't want to leave Wolcott and the public schools, where the kids are comfortable.  "They cry, they really don't want to move again," she said.

But she knows she should have done more research before she signed the lease.

"I don't care what the landlord says," she said.  "Go to the town hall, make sure it's not under foreclosure, make sure there's no liens on the house.  I got stumped.  My mother's a real estate agent.  I should have known better."

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