Buster,  I can confidently say that in decades past these things were not openly talked about much. And this is not just about the cases involving priests, but almost anyone.   This is not specifically a church thing but in general people just did not much openly discuss real cases.  People knew these things happened but it was "swept under the rug" by all groups and orgs. As I mentioned in another post, I know of situations in public school that were handled quietly  (out of the public eye as you say) and hardly anyone knew much about the details.