In (less than whole-hearted) defense of the Church, at the time it was largely viewed as a sin on the part of the priest and was handled accordingly. Not as a sin/crime against the child and society. This viewpoint of child abuse was not limited to the Church at the time. The effect on the child was often not taken seriously.
The parents in these cases, when they even knew about them, were most often asked to keep things quiet to “protect the Church.” Which was of course the absolute worst possible thing they could have done, in the long run, to protect the Church.
I remember when an ex-priest from my old parish was accused and convicted of molesting boys. I asked my mother if she knew that Father D..... was a homosexual. She looked at me and said, oh yes, we all knew he was probably a homosexual. I looked at her with amazement and asked why somebody didn't do something about it. She just shrugged and said nobody did much about those things in those days. I couldn't believe it.
But the attitude of parisioners in those days (fifties and sixties) was much more submissive than what people tolerate today. My parents (especially my father) attitude was the Church and priests could do no wrong. Even when they did wrong. I guess they just couldn't deal with the idea of a pedophile priest. If I found out some cleric had molested my child, he had better be hiding in an undisclosed location. I wouldn't be very tolerant or forgiving.