A Church which mistakenly published an advert calling for a militia to be formed has apologised for the error.

The ad, calling for young men between the ages of 18 to 29 to sign up to the fighting group, appeared in the newsletter of a catholic church in the US state of Missouri. 

It said the group, called 'The Legion of the Sancta Lana', would “protect our holy Eucharist, congregation, clergy and church grounds”, after strict physical standards had been met and training given.

A QR code was supplied for anyone interested to use.

Ascension Catholic Church in Chesterfield has “sincerely apologised” and distanced itself from the advert.

Rev Eugene Schaeffer, the parish’s associate pastor, called it a mistake, and a full apology was issued.

The apology made it clear that there were no plans for a militia, no need for the church to be physically defended and said it regretted the item being included in the pamphlet.

It said: "The advertisement, which included a QR code with an application for membership, suggests that a militia would be formed and that this group would be affiliated with Ascension parish. This is, of course, untrue.

"To be perfectly clear, there is no militia being formed, and we regret that this item was included in the bulletin. 

"Furthermore, the suggestion that our community might require a militia in order for us to celebrate the Eucharist is both inappropriate and unhelpful."

The statement added: "We sincerely apologize for this error and the anguish it has caused, and we believe it is in the best interest of our parish and our community for us to clarify that we do not support this activity." 

It is understood that the newsletter is published by an outside agency, and was not in this case properly vetted.

Fox 2 news interviewed a parishioner who said it must have “slipped through” the net.