The homily was part of an event entitled "Proclaim Jubilee," organized, in part, because of the fast-approaching Jubilee Year. Reconciliation is part of the overall global theme for Catholics during Jubilee Year 2000.

The archbishop's remarks mirror similar past statements made by Pope John Paul II and by Cardinal John O'Connor, archbishop of New York. Speaking as the spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Weakland said he wanted to take this occasion of preparing to enter into the Jubilee Year, to "acknowledge before my fellow Jewish citizens of the city of Milwaukee the wrongs we Catholics have done." In addition the archbishop acknowledged that:

· Catholics have through centuries, acted in a fashion contrary to God's law toward our Jewish brothers and sisters.
· Such actions harmed the Jewish community throughout the ages in both physical and psychological ways.
· Catholics, by preaching a doctrine that the Jewish people were unfaithful, hypocritical and God-killers, reduced the human dignity of our Jewish brothers and sisters, and created attitudes that made reprisals against them seem like acts of conformity to God's will. And, by doing so, contributed to the attitudes that made the Holocaust possible.

In closing, Weakland said that the baggage of 2,000 years is not easy to cast aside, but now the people of Milwaukee have a starting point. "If we continue to be concerned about what is best for the other, if we no longer continue to stereotype each other, if we can develop mutual respect and love as brothers and sisters in the same one God, we will be able to work together to bring a spirit of healing to this world and to those who live here,"Weakland said. "Such healing is our aim."