"Willfully continue to associate with lawbreakers"? Oh yeah, it's "Crime Central" down here. You're really reaching here, Murph.
Most "lay Catholics" go to Mass once/week, put their money in the collection plate and then go home again. If the homily isn't too long and nothing crazy happens at Mass they're happy. That's about the extent of their involvement.
Many have children. Like parents with children are going to "willfully associate" with and give support to known child molesters. Any support given by Catholic lay people to accused priests is for one of two reasons: (i) they still believe in the principle of innocent until proven guilty, or (ii) they simply don't want to accept the fact that their priest is a pervert.
And, don’t forget, most parishioners are not even aware that a priest is doing anything wrong until he is formally accused and removed from his parish. Therefore, Alex Murphy’s claim that lay people willfully associate themselves with lawbreakers, is calumny, pure and simple.
Finally, I would add, that some of these accused priests are not guilty. Some are guilty and some are innocent and every case must be decided on its own merits. Being accused is not in itself proof of guilt. But this is something that most people seem to have overlooked in all of the hysteria surrounding this scandal.