I think one obscure reason relates to whether the bulk of practicing Catholics swing Republican or Democratic in national elections.  This Catholic vote is sometimes nicknamed the "Holy Grail" and somehow it seems to always go with the winner. In almost all of the post war elections Catholics were solidly Democratic and the issue of clerical sex abuse was not a public issue, even when it was much more serious in the 1960's and 1970's.  Catholics went Republican for Bush in the contentions election of 2000 and the "Great Lent" storm hit in Boston in 2002.   This went on for several years then began to die down after about 2008 with the Democrats getting a thin margin of Catholic voters.   But Trump had the  "Holy Grail" in the 2016 election earlier this month, so I suspect another storm is coming.  I think this is a way of "payback" from groups in society who really are not all that concerned with pedophilia in general.  Regrettably in our time and place all has become political.