Would that be because you have never seen the mass media report on the teachers' unions opposition to more stringent licensing? You prove my point for me.
What is traditional morality anyways? What one group deems right and wrong?
It's what God deems right and wrong.
Priests are spiritual leaders, that is what made this topic so important. It's important for the Catholic Church to sweep it's doorstep before handing out advice on morality.
A ridiculous statement. The Catholic Church teaches that it's wrong to lie - should the Church not teach that moral doctrine until every single Catholic in the whole world has never told a lie?
There is no surer way of stifling the spread of the Gospel. The Church on earth is made up of sinners. Always has. Always will be.
Just because individual Catholics fall short of the ideal is no reason to stifle the ideal or pretend it doesn't exist. For every Catholic priest who did the evil things we're discussing there are hundreds who go about their business, selflessly giving of themselves for Christ's sake.
You want to scant the good they do every day and pretend that they don't exist. In many ways that's an even worse thing to do than covering up evil deeds.