Discipline has been inexcusably lax - particularly at the diocesan level.
True, but on the other hand perhaps the image problem is caused at least as much by the darkening of society than by the corruption of the Church. Clergy used to be admired for their wisdom and leadership, now they are admired for their entertainment value.
The Catholic Church was famously described by Joyce as "Here comes everybody". The Church has all sorts, including but not limited to, "timid, retiring intellectuals" (oh, the horror!), as well as perverts (which is fine as long as they recognize perverted activity as a sin and strive to overcome it). If you are talking about the priesthood, I think that the criteria have been tightened up in recent years for the better (at least on the practice and advocacy of perversion front).