A good lady friend of mine is a very devout Catholic. She takes her children to mass at least once a week like clockwork. A few years ago, I asked her what she thought about the Priest scandals. I really expected her to defend the Church. Instead, she gave me a very intense and wild look (an expression I’ve never seen on her before or since) and said flatly that she assumes that all priests are pervs. And she won’t let her boys do anything where they are alone with a priest. I found that kind of shocking at the time, but perhaps she was right on target.
I had an uncle who was a priest. Towards the end of his life he would not wear his Roman collar in public. He said he noticed people would herd their children away from him if he did.
I had a great-aunt who was a nun. She was pretty elderly when the first wave of this hit the news in the 70’s. She was inconsolable. She was totally crushed that the Church she loved and spend her whole life serving had allowed this to go on.