Among many churches hit by Saturday's Victorian fires, the Catholic churches at Kinglake and Marysville were destroyed.
Melbourne Archdiocese Vicar-General Les Tomlinson said there would be no services at Marysville any time soon.
"There's nowhere to have it, and probably no people there to gather," Monsignor Tomlinson told The Age.
Fr Julian Langridge, parish priest at Lilydale, Healesville, Marysville, Dixons Creek, Yarra Glen and Toolangi, said so far he had been able to contact only one of about 25 Marysville parishioners.
Marysville Anglican priest Norm Hart and his wife Patti also lost their church, their home and their parish.
"We know the house is gone, we saw it on the ABC website. There was a photo, and it was definitely our house. We have a fireplace standing. We've been told the church has gone," she said.
And the Marysville parish has been obliterated. The churches at Marysville and Buxton, for which Mr Hart is also the priest and about whose fate he has no idea, both have a congregation of about 50.
"None of the parishioners have died as far as we know, but there are always rumours," Mrs Hart said.
The Anglican church at Kinglake was also destroyed.
"It's devastating, it's unbelievable; it's worse than Iraq, it's just carnage," Kinglake Anglican priest Stephen Holmes said.
The Uniting Church at Kinglake survived; the fate of the Marysville church is unknown but presumed grim. "We lost church members, which is worse," said the Uniting Church's Victorian media director, Kim Cain.
SOURCE
Churches hit hard but stay focused on pastoral care (The Age)