Without in any way excusing the "transfer to avoid scandal" behaviour, we should probably take note that this isn't restricted to the Catholic church (or even religious bureaucracies) by any stretch. You'd probably be hard pressed to find a school-board, hospital, government bureaucracy, or large corporation where the executive layer of management hasn't engaged in this kind of behaviour to one degree or another, especially where the possibility of actually bringing criminal charges to bear would be tricky and potentially very public.