Professor Patricia Casey of Dublin's Mater Hospital, who is a patron of the pro-family, pro-faith Iona Institute, rebuked Archbishop Martin in her column in the Irish Examiner, accusing him of undermining confidence within the Church instead of building it up.
She cited the Archbishop's recent MacGill Summer School address in which he criticised some of the young men presenting themselves as candidates for the priesthood as "fragile" and "much more traditional than those who went before them".
"Being fragile is not a crime. Nor is being conservative," Professor Casey wrote.