In their joint appeal to the politicians to make a success of the St Andrews talks, the four main church leaders urged the parties "to look beyond things which fragment and divide our society and to concentrate their efforts on those aspects of the process which will lead towards positive outcomes".
But Northern Ireland politicians being Northern Ireland politicians it's hard to overlook a good opportunity for fragmentation and division when it stares you in the face.
The talks are taking place in St Andrews
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Thus the DUP - whilst being remarkably positive by their standards about the recent IMC report - cannot resist greeting the evidence of a serious IRA wind down by asking for more.
And with the Scottish talks looming, Sinn Fein has thrown that most divisive of topics, the on the runs, back into the mix.
Peter Hain withdrew his contentious bill on paramilitary fugitives because after getting perhaps the roughest parliamentary ride any secretary of state has ever had his only political ally on the measure - Sinn Fein - then decided it wanted nothing to do with it.
Republicans claimed they'd been double crossed when the government came up with a scheme which would not only allow IRA fugitives home, but would also extend an effective amnesty to former security force members charged with collusion or other crimes.
Sinn Fein withstood some withering crossfire from the SDLP on this score before deciding to reject the bill.
The secretary of state confessed he hadn't exactly had a "spring in my step" when he tried to pioneer the measure through the Commons.
He said leaving security force members out of the equation would be "one-sided and unacceptable". He told MPs he would reflect carefully before taking stock in the autumn.
Peter Hain previously endured a rough ride on the on-the-runs issue
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Now the autumn has arrived, the issue is back on the agenda. Republicans are showing increasing signs day by day of buying into policing.
But they insist that promises made to them on on-the-runs at the Weston Park talks must be honoured. Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly told Inside Politics that should happen at or before St Andrews.
But other parties won't make this easy either for republicans or the government.
The DUP's Nigel Dodds says it's a deal breaker. The SDLP's Alban Maginness argues there should be no question of reviving what he calls the "colluders' charter" agreement abandoned in January.
The Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey warns of the need for "great vigilance".
The government, surmises Sir Reg "will be reluctant to risk an almost certain defeat in the upper house and an 'administrative' approach is more likely to be adopted.
"This may involve a trawl through the list of so-called on-the-runs to see how many warrants are outstanding and in how many cases there is a reasonable prospect of prosecutions being followed."
Certainly rather than risk difficulties in the Dail, Dublin dealt with its smaller numbers of on-the-runs with a series of executive pardons, whilst Peter Hain's predecessor Peter Mandelson used a similar tactic.
As a departing prime minister Tony Blair may believe he has nothing to lose by approving a large number of pardons.
Nigel Dodds says issue could be deal breaker
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However, this would involve the Queen and it may be considered unseemly to embarrass the monarch so soon after she awarded the conspicuous gallantry cross to the retiring Royal Irish Regiment.
Moreover any move, legal or administrative, in relation to on-the-run paramilitaries will spur calls from the Alliance Party and the pressure group Families Against Intimidation and Terror for a firm guarantee from republicans that those exiled during the troubles will be allowed home without fear of reprisals.
What with the IRA inactive and the RIR home battalions marching into the sunset all sides seem to be marching in the same direction.
But the return of the "wild geese" could complicate the governments efforts to reach a deal in principle at St Andrews.
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