The Irish Catholic Church has a golden opportunity to redeem itself by grabbing the bull by the horns and persuading the various dissident republican terror gangs to disband.
The Real IRA's hijacking of a peaceful Easter Rising commemoration in Derry's Creggan graveyard was really a 'F*** You' salute to the Catholic hierarchy.
In his threat to Catholics who wanted to join the police, the masked dissident openly insulted Irish bishops boasting: "The GAA, Catholic Church and constitutional nationalism will be unable to protect those who turn traitor."
During the main Troubles, there was constant friction between the Provos and the Catholic Church leadership, but unlike Unionism, both sides did not air their dirty linen in public.
Apart from an occasional public spat between the late Cardinal Cahal Daly, rebel Bishop Pat Buckley and a handful of brave priests, all disputes were settled behind closed doors.
But that was before the clerical abuse scandals erupted in public. One of the tragic fallouts of this dark period is modern dissident republicans can no longer respect Church leaders.
Dissident republicans may mouth off they are the real successors to 1916 heroes like Eamon de Valera, but the late Irish President would not even burp without first consulting bishops.
There is no such pandering to the Catholic leadership from dissidents. Reports have exposed how clerical abuse was covered up. The Irish bishops even had to face the humiliation of being summoned to Rome to explain their actions in person to the Pope.
The recent stomach-churning drama about the life of convicted pervert Father Brendan Smyth publicised the full horror of abuse and cover-ups.
And how is the Catholic leadership to have any credibility or influence with dissidents after the accusing finger was pointed at the late Father James Chesney as a key Provo terrorist in the notorious Claudy massacre?
You can also forget the images of priests blessing IRA men before attacking the British as portrayed in the staunchly pro-republican Hollywood flick, The Wind That Shakes The Barley. By today's standards, this is fictional clap-trap.
One Derry priest – Father Michael Canny – has already shown he is a man of courage by offering to talk directly to the Real IRA.
He should not become a lone voice, but given whatever support he needs from the British and Irish governments as well as the Irish bishops.
If the Catholic Church is to stand any chance of overturning, or re-negotiating the Act of Settlement, it must deliver a dissident republican ceasefire.
Should republican dissidents wreck the queen's visit to the republic, Anglo-Irish relations will plummet to their lowest for almost a century.
Dublin Catholics spat on the Irish Volunteers following the failed Easter Rising.
But that despising became hero worship after the Rising leaders were executed by firing squad. It was actually the morale boost the fledgling IRA needed.
Look at how the SAS was unleashed against republicans after the IRA murder of the queen's blood relative Louis Mountbatten in 1979.
After that, the IRA seemed to operate an unwritten rule of 'no attacks on the Royals'. The Republic would become a global laughing stock – worse than Libya or Syria – if dissidents attacked the queen.
Britain is contributing a significant slice of the European bail-out to Ireland. Why would the British help the Republic if something terrible happened to the queen during her visit?
Catholic Church political influence is at its lowest ebb since the Reformation. But the Irish bishops can once again ride the high waves of credibility. All they have to do is call the dissident section of their community to heel.
Unlike the clerical abuse allegations, this is one crisis where the Irish bishops can't bury their heads in the sand.
It is not a time to expose individual priests to the stresses of negotiation. It is time for the bishops to act as a collective body. Screw this up, and the bishops might as well close every chapel and cathedral in Ireland.
