EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Churches Offer Words of Comfort : Religion: In Simi Valley and Fillmore, ministers urge congregations to cope with the quake aftermath by relying on their faith and by helping their neighbors.

The alabaster likeness of Mother Mary still lies toppled and cracked outside the shaken house of worship that is St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley.

But inside the chapel Sunday morning, Father Dennis Mongrain used last week’s deadly earthquake--and the stories of heroes and humanity that have since been told--as the cornerstone of a sermon that preached encouragement and concern for others.

“God writes with great and crooked lines,” Mongrain told members of his congregation. “God reminds us of the preciousness of people and how quickly our lives can change.”

Hundreds of parishioners listened Sunday as ministers in Simi Valley and Fillmore urged their congregations to keep their faith and to help each other rebound from the series of temblors.

Church services in the two hardest-hit cities in Ventura County were dominated by inspirational messages delivered to victims of the earthquake and their neighbors.

Some said the pews were a little fuller at St. Peter Claver on Sunday than in previous weeks. Others said it was the earthquake that brought people to church who might never have come.

“You can pray at home and read your Bible at home, but when you come to church, it’s like a whole family coming together,” said Beverly Avery, a Simi Valley woman whose home suffered structural damage in the Jan. 17 temblor.

“The sermon helped me to relieve the tension I feel deep down inside, and it will help me face the rest of this week,” she said. “We have all suffered the same shock.”

Janice Schaeffer said she was so frightened by the quake that she plans to move from Simi Valley to Arizona as soon as possible. Schaeffer said that when the earthquake struck, her immediate concern was for her young children: Taylor, 7; Sara, 6, and Sally, 4.

“I’ve been through the rollers. I’ve been through lots of these,” she said outside St. Peter Claver. “But it’s never before jeopardized my children’s health or safety. I’m actually thankful I have three screaming kids.”

The church suffered moderate damage in the earthquake and aftershocks.

The ceiling in the back of the building, where religion classes are held during the week, was badly cracked but inspectors have already ruled the facility safe, Mongrain said. The classes are canceled through Wednesday while repairs are under way, he said.

Besides the structural damage caused by the quake, Mongrain sees stress and worry in the eyes of his worshipers.

“But I also see a willingness to reach out and help,” he said between Masses. “Even people who have lost their own homes have asked me what they could do to help.”

In Fillmore, 191 members of Fillmore Bible Church abandoned their red-tagged 65-year-old sanctuary and held an afternoon service at undamaged Faith Community Church.

The bell tower of Fillmore Bible Church sustained severe structural damage, orphaning the 300-member congregation.

“Who would have thought Fillmore Bible Church would meet anywhere other than 1st and Central?” Pastor Dave Fenska asked church members in his opening remarks Sunday. “This week has proved that the church is not a building . . . the church is people.”

Fenska said the church, which was built in 1929, will be closed for at least two months while the damage is assessed. The congregation will meet at Faith Community Church this Sunday, too.

It will cost an estimated $1,500 to inspect the structure, he said. The church has no earthquake insurance, and elders are still trying to determine how to pay for the inspection and repairs.

During Sunday’s service, Fenska invited members of the congregation to the podium to share their earthquake experiences and to thank friends and neighbors who helped in the quake’s aftermath.

Fillmore resident Kathy Campbell held back tears while assuring the congregation that she and her family would recover from the loss of their century-old home.

“I came here this morning, and I didn’t know if I could do this,” she said in a shaky voice. “I know that by the grace of God, we will get through.”

Campbell, whose husband, Roger, is a member of the Fillmore City Council, quoted her 18-year-old daughter, Laurie, as saying: “We’re not homeless; we’re houseless.”

Tears and laughter filled the church as friends and neighbors shared their sometimes horrific and often humorous stories of the Jan. 17 quake.

“I’m thankful we have a God we can call on any time--I sure called on him at 4:30 in the morning,” said 78-year-old Ruth Miller, whose home now displays a yellow tag that means that she can enter at her own risk.

Miller spent Sunday morning at the Federal Emergency Management Agency center in Fillmore, applying for federal aid, before going to church.

But others found something positive in the disaster.

“This quake made me feel like a kid again,” said Auston Burson, 47, of Fillmore. “I haven’t been rocking and rolling at 4 o’clock in the morning in a long time.”

Times staff writer Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.