In '02, the American bishops set new guidelines in dealing with suspected pedophile clergy requiring zero tolerance, mandatory reporting to authorities, and other steps. While not shocked to hear that it wasn't just an "American problem," I was appalled to find that the pope(s) hadn't streamlined the guidelines globally. The result was a time bomb that went off this year in Europe and in other parts of the world, as it did in America back in '02.
As a Catholic, the scandals haven't affected my faith; these matters are not theological but administrative, and are in theory easily correctable. The church itself teaches that although their duties are sacred, clergy are also men with sinful inclinations - too many Catholics choose to forget this and exalt them personally to a status that they shouldn't. Yet these same people are the ones who abandon the Catholic Church or even Christianity itself when scandals like these rear their ugly heads. Anyone can succeed or fail in any vocation - these men clearly failed to do their jobs - and miserably so. To cover up crimes of the clergy is wrong, but so is smearing the entire priesthood for actions of a few, and equally wrong is developing (or - in most cases - reinforcing) an ignorant prejudice against Catholicism. Many prefer throwing stones to seriously resolving the issue.