Priests and committed Catholics in Ireland 'feel it is time to stand up and respond' to unfair attacks and a 'culture of relentless reminding the Church of the sins of its members,' according to the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.

Priests and religious congregations are 'unfairly under attack as they live out their faith and their ministry generously and with dedication', Archbishop Martin has said at the ordination of a priest in Terenure College in Dublin.

In comments reported by the Irish Times, the archbishop said that there appeared to be a 'culture of relentless reminding the Church of the sins of its members' which was at times 'painting every individual and every moment in the history of the Church with the same condemnation'.

He added: 'I notice a certain justified resentment among priests and religious [congregations] and committed Catholics at somehow being unfairly under attack as they live out their faith and their ministry generously and with dedication. There is a sense in which they feel that it is time to stand up and respond.'

He went on: 'Evil is conquered by goodness; nastiness by love; dishonesty by truth; corruption by integrity.'

Last month, Archbishop Martin lamented the way in which the Church could sometimes be harsh towards single mothers, gay people and orphans.

He said: 'How is it that the Church and its institutions could at various times in history, and not only in a distant past, have been so judgmental and treated broken people who were entrusted to its care with such harshness? How could we have tried to use the teaching and the merciful way of dealing with sinners to justify or accept harsh exclusion? Think of so many groupings who were misjudged: single mothers who wanted to keep a baby they loved, gay and lesbian people, orphans.'