David, I believe your suggestion would destroy the Catholic Church.  Is that your intention?
The protectionism of which you speak has been largely destroyed (at least I pray it has been), with many priests and several bishops removed from service.  Many have been imprisoned.   Yes, such abuses should never have occurred.  The protectionism has been largely purged over the past couple of decades.  Among those most hurt are the 98% of priests and bishops who are Godly men who have had their hearts torn out because of the few percent who were guilty of abuse or protecting the abusers.  The Catholic Church in the US has a zero tolerance policy, with very good success.  Hopefully the entire Church will soon have such a policy if not already implemented.   Please pray that God will make it so.