Religious grieve in makeshift churches

FOR many among the dozens of displaced congregations littered across Christchurch, yesterday was their first real chance to grieve.

FOR many among the dozens of displaced congregations littered across Christchurch, yesterday was their first real chance to grieve.

On the first Sunday after the earthquake that so violently stole so many lives and forever changed the look of the city, regular and not-so-regular churchgoers descended on makeshift places of worship to mourn the events of last week but also to express hope for what lies ahead.

On a brilliant late summer's morning in Christchurch, thousands of people attended religious services in unfamiliar surrounds, after so many churches were crumbled and gutted by the natural disaster. Peter Beck, Dean of the city's Anglican cathedral, which was extensively damaged in the earthquake, presided over a service at St Albans Park in the city's northeast for 60 people from three separate displaced parishes.

It was a far cry from the grandeur of the city's most famous cathedral but Mr Beck said the stark service in the middle of the suburban oval was representative of a city stripped bare, though ready to start again.

"You could sense in this community here a deep sense of sadness and grief, and at the same time what the people of the city are continuing to do is to reach out to each other and care for another," Mr Beck said.

A few suburbs away in Merivale, about 100 people gathered in a makeshift hall next to St Mary's Anglican Church. The church was badly damaged in the earthquake that shook Christchurch in September last year, and has been closed since. Vicar Brenda Bonnett said the restoration of the church had been going well -- until last Tuesday.

"Now we have lost the bell tower and we're not sure of the extent of the damage inside," she said.

David Moxon, the Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand, said the devastation across Christchurch was "just heartbreaking".

"But it's true what people are saying -- you can replace buildings, you can't replace lives," he said. "That has to be our focus at the moment."