One of most memorable events of the church’s Jubilee Year 2000 was a “Forgiveness Day” in which Pope John Paul II publicly apologized for the shortcomings of Christians through the ages. The topics ranged from slavery to the Inquisition.

“We forgive, and we ask forgiveness,” the pope said at a “Forgiveness Day” liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica on March 12, 2000. John Paul II and Vatican officials made a “request for pardon” for sins against Christian unity, the use of violence in serving the truth, hostility toward Jews and other religions, the marginalization of women and wrongs committed against society’s weakest members.

“For the part that each of us, with his behavior, has had in these evils that have disfigured the face of the church, we humbly ask forgiveness,” said John Paul. And, he added, “never again” should such sins be committed.

The reason for making a public expression of forgiveness by the church was explained by John Paul in an apostolic letter preparing for the Jubilee Year. He wrote:

The church “cannot cross the threshold of the new millennium without encouraging her children to purify themselves through repentance of past errors and instances of infidelity, inconsistency and slowness to act. Acknowledging the weaknesses of the past is an act of honesty and courage which helps is to strengthen our faith, which alerts us to face today’s temptation and challenges, and prepares us to meet them.”

Such acts of honesty and courage also can apply to forgiveness sought by other institutions in society for failures to live up to their ideals. One example is a move underway in the U.S. Congress to approve a resolution apologizing for slavery and subsequent racial desegregation laws of the past.

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said that he and Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas will propose a resolution in the Senate this month. A similar measure, filed in the House last year, has 120 co-sponsors.

“We’ve seen states step forward on this” question, Harkin said in a USA Today article last week. “I’m really shocked” the federal government hasn’t apologized for slavery. “It’s time to do so.”

In fact, five states — Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey — have during the past year approved resolutions expressing their regret or apologizing for their part in slavery. New Jersey’s legislature acted in January.

The resolutions in New Jersey and Virginia mentioned reasons why such statements were needed years after slavery had become illegal in the United States. “The vestiges of slavery are ever before African-American citizens, from the overt racism of hate groups to the subtle racism encountered when requesting health care, transacting business, buying a home, seeking quality education and college admission and enduring pretextual traffic stops and other indignities,” the resolutions noted.

The two resolutions also noted a 2003 talk by President George W. Bush in Senegal, a former slave port. He said: “While physical slavery is dead, the legacy is alive. My nation’s journey toward justice has not been easy, and it is not over. ... Many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experiences of other times.”

These resolutions apologizing for slavery are not only about acknowledging past errors. This also is about the present and the future — a recognition that racism is still a reality and that we need to face it and do something about it.

This is what Pope John Paul II was alluding to when he was talking about the importance to the church of seeking forgiveness. Purifying ourselves of past mistakes is an important part of change or conversion. And this helps us to confront the challenges of today — some which have their roots in past transgressions.

Making an apology for something as distant as slavery is not “hollow” or meaningless, as some critics argue. A formal apology is sometimes a needed first step in dealing with the effects of slavery and racial discrimination that far too many African Americans experience every day.

Two decades ago, Congress apologized to Japanese-Americans for holding them unjustly in detention campus during World War II. It is time that a similar apology be issued for the era of slavery, along with the years of “Jim Crow” racial segregation laws that followed the formal ending of slavery.