*sigh* No it wasn't, it's been the case since well before the church had much if anything related to property. It's more that the priest is supposed to put the good of the community before the good of his own family. Therefore, a priests 'family' is supposed to be the whole of the Church, in a very broad and loose sense Holy Orders can be seen as a sort of marriage of the Priest to the Church (there's a reason the Church is historically called Mother Church...)
Have there been abuses, yes. Have there been abuses not related to family (see Simony), yes. Priests are people too, and are not perfect even if they are called to such. For those interested, read the works of St Peter Damian... and realize when you recognize precisely the problems the Church faces today in them that he wrote this over a thousand years ago.
Have there been abuses, yes. Have there been abuses not related to family (see Simony), yes. Priests are people too, and are not perfect even if they are called to such. For those interested, read the works of St Peter Damian... and realize when you recognize precisely the problems the Church faces today in them that he wrote this over a thousand years ago.