Father Aidan Troy of Holy Cross school voiced a universal sense of shock - and yet managed to express hope - at the renewed violence which has spread through north Belfast since Wednesday evening. "We are not back to square one", he said, "it is worse than that. It will be very, very hard to come back from this but we will have to try."
Protestants say the trouble began when Catholics pulled down a wreath commemorating a Protestant man killed by republicans. Catholics claim Protestant youths manhandled a Holy Cross parent and that two people were struck by a police vehicle. The details are less than important. What is shocking is the reality of the continuing, underlying hatreds that can so easily be sparked into conflagration. Some sources claim convincingly that the violence was then sustained and directed at least in part by UDA elements.
Twelve weeks of protest and violence at Holy Cross ended late last year. A series of compromises was worked out and government aid measures were announced to help address Protestant claims of neglect and grievance. But the events of the past 36 hours show that there is still a vacuum of trust on the streets. Community leaders and politicians have taken much abuse as they struggled to restrain their own people. And it is clear that there is an inadequate police presence in order to defuse tensions.
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Coincidentally, on Wednesday night in Washington, President Bush's special adviser on Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass, appealed for more understanding of Protestant alienation. Implicitly he said there had been too much focus on the grievances of the Catholic community. He spoke of the "crisis" within the Protestant community and said it was in everyone's interests to help its leaders to overcome it.
Nothing can justify the manifestations of hatred which have been visited upon the Catholic children of Holy Cross school or the intimidation of parents and teachers which took place over the past two days. But Mr Haass's admonition is timely. There is an urgent need for reassurance among Protestants and unionists which cannot come from government action alone. Paramilitaries will thrive in the absence of such reassurance. But it can only come about with the active, generous participation of the other community. As Mr Haass put it, "there is no separating the future of one community from that of the other."
Economic and social development within deprived Protestant areas is essential. But what has also been missing is trusted, effective policing on the ground. Without it, no amount of development will yield permanent harmony and the paramilitaries will have a free run. The Catholic community could best respond to the situation - and to Mr Haass's plea - by embracing fully and quickly the new, reformed Police Service of Northern Ireland. No other single factor could do as much to bring about normality as the presence of an effective police force on the ground, working with the unqualified support of all sections.