Fr. James J. Schlaffer

Ordained: 1945
Status: Accused

Died: 08/22/1998
Diocese: Diocese of Gallup NM

Ordained for the Milwaukee archdiocese. A 7/27/2004 article in the Gallup Independent related that Schlaffer allegedly ‘probed the vaginal area’ of an 18-year-old Navajo girl hospitalized and in traction at the Gallup Indian Medical Center 30 years prior. On her first day of work after graduating from high school, the girl had been struck by a car as she walked on the shoulder of a reservation road. The girl ordered Schlaffer from her hospital room, expelled him again when he returned, and requested that the hospital add a note to her record stating that she wanted no visits from him. Subsequently the girl met another injured girl at the hospital, age 17, who said Schlaffer was a ‘nasty priest’ who had put his hand under her blouse and fondled her. He died on 8/22/1998.


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