The Catholic Primate, Archbishop Sean Brady, has spoken of the climate of fear in the Catholic community in Northern Ireland, and the disappointment that there was not more vocal opposition to the recent spate of murders.
Dr Brady and other church leaders - the Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, the Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Sam Hutchinson, and the Methodist President, Dr Norman Taggart - said sectarianism must be repudiated and urged community support for Friday's ICTU peace rallies.
"We encourage politicians to renew their efforts to find a just and lasting settlement through political dialogue. Prayer is vitally important, not as an alternative to political involvement, but as a way of promoting it and discerning the will of God," they said.
Dr Brady later told UTV of the great fear among Catholics caused by the "campaign of terror being waged" against them. "There is also a certain disappointment that there has not been a greater outcry on the part of the people in general against this campaign," he said.
Asked about the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), political wing of the UDA, withdrawing from the talks, he said he was concerned that any party should be isolated from the process. Some contact with the paramilitaries was necessary to "try and convince them of the futility of the path of violence".
The UDP should be allowed back into the process when it had re-established its bona fides. He believed there were people in the party who were genuine, but they were being resisted by the UDA.
In response to loyalists citing the INLA murder of Billy Wright for the murder of Catholics, Dr Brady said there had been a pattern of loyalist killings of Catholics right through 1997, in advance of Wright's death. He added, however, that the INLA killing of Wright had "obviously exacerbated the situation greatly".
