I was raised Catholic but I don’t identify that way because I am an agnostic. However, the Catholic Church has many in the clergy and the laity who are worthy of respect for their past and present humanitarian works. It is true that the Catholic Church has a checkered history, as do all institutions which have endured over time. The abuse scandal should be aired and dealt with.
Having said that, I think that the intent of the “preacher’s” remarks is that many people were taking advantage of the situation to attack the Pope and the Vatican, not because they particularly cared about the abuse scandal, but because they resent or perhaps even hate the Pope and other members of the Church for other reasons. To that extent, the analogy to anti-Semitism is apt. Someone who is anti-Semitic will make derogatory remarks about Jews for any reason and usually the stated reason for the attack is not particularly pertinent to her or his prejudice. (This is to be distinguished from statements by people who are honestly critical of other people who happen to be Jews who do bad things, such as participate in settling housing in the Palestinian West Bank in violation of international law.) Prejudice against Catholics because they are Catholics is functionally no different from anti-Semitism or any other form of irrational prejudice.