Mike:

If you will forgive me interjecting a comment...

I think you have a very valid point, when you say that priests would be less vulnerable if they had their own homes -- and many do. That said, I believe many, many priests take the approach they do, not because they are unaware, but because they choose to accept that risk as the price they pay to be the priests they want to be. 

A lot of laypeople do not realize (and a subset don't care) that the present climate creates many difficulties for priests. I know priests who, when traveling, never stay at a friend or family member's home, because there are children under 18 in the home. They avoid using public bathrooms. They cannot welcome families into their rectories if there are children. They have to worry about how a hug might be construed. These are priests who haven't done anything wrong, and don't want to be ruined by a suspicion.