An 80-year-old woman is calling for all women in Ireland to boycott mass on 26 September.

Jennifer Sleeman wants to let the church authorities in the Vatican and in Ireland know that women are fed up with being, what she describes as, 'second class citizens' in the church.

Ms Sleeman, from Clonakilty in Cork, said women are very powerful and make up more than half of people who go to mass.

She said they are looking for recognition and she knows that there are lots of women who would like to be ordained.

She said it seems fine for women to clean the church and give out communion, but if they ask to do anything more than that they get jumped on.

Ms Sleeman's eldest son is a monk in Glenstal Abbey in Co Limerick.

In response, the Catholic Communications Office said that celebrating mass is essential 'to the practice of the Catholic faith'.

In a statement it said: 'The Mass is a community sacramental celebration of the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus.

'We would encourage people not to absent themselves from the Eucharist where we re-enact the Last Supper and the Paschal mystery, following the command of Jesus, 'Do this is memory of me'.

'The celebration of the Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation is essential to the practice of the Catholic faith as the Sunday Eucharist is a pivotal aspect of the spiritual lives of Catholics.'