Whats the deal with churches not assigning a priest?>
I lost about 10 people in the space of a few minutes because services arent happening... ?

You need a core, bell tower and a door for the church to function. You have to add more to this for the church to service more people. If you have more people in your village than the church can service, then you will have unhappy people that will leave.

ah right, the space might explain people leaving... how do i get a priest to work in the church though?

The priest has not been implemented yet in the game.

Anything new on the priest issue? I still can't assign one to my churches, even not with a monastery in my village.

Priests are still not implemented in the game but the churches work fine without them.