Catholic churches in South Canterbury are to undergo detailed inspections as a result of earthquake concerns.
The Catholic Diocese of Christchurch will look into the state of South Canterbury churches next week, financial administrator Paddy Beban said.
The church's resources were stretched in Christchurch, but consideration was being given to what would happen in South Canterbury.
Preliminary inspections had not identified any major problems, Mr Beban said.
"Our visual inspections didn't identify anything untoward. We will be determining next week where we go. We've got buildings that are down that are not a problem, it's the ones that are still open that are."
The inspections may take some time, Mr Beban said. "It's not a thing you can have a look at in a day; you've got to do intrusive work in the buildings. Our engineers are getting experienced with looking for problems."
It would be several months before any decision was made on the fate of more than 20 Catholic churches in Canterbury, he said.
Five churches have been demolished, and a further 16, including the Christchurch Basilica, have been out of action since December.
Mr Beban said the bill for rebuilding and repairing the churches would be more than $120 million.
"Our focus is once again on safety but it's also getting the numbers together, what is required to fix these churches so we can then do an overall settlement with our insurers, get some money in the bank, and then make some decisions. What we've got to do is look at the money we've got in the bank after insurance settlement, look at what's necessary. There will certainly be a gap between the insurance and the fixed cost, and how we're going to finance that is something we've got to grapple with."
Mr Beban's comments follow announcements that more than half the Catholic churches in Wellington are considered immediate earthquake concerns.
Twenty-five churches have been identified as earthquake-prone in the Wellington archdiocese. It will cost more than $3m to complete assessments and decide on remedial work for each of the 181 parish buildings in its domain.
The archdiocese, which covers an area from Reefton in the South Island to Levin in the north, has been assessing all parish buildings and identifying those at risk in an earthquake as part of Project Stronger, launched by the church in 2011.