Anyway, I have been reading a rather interesting book, called The Church and Labor, by John A. Ryan and Joseph Husslein, published in 1920, which discusses Catholic Social Teaching and the labor movement. They discuss Frederic Ozanam, founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and Bishop Wilhelm Immanuel von Ketteler quite extensively. Here is a quote by Bp. Ketteler that struck me as particularly relevant - keep in mind, this was written in the mid-19th Century:
The States of Europe are staggering under the huge burdens of public debt in spite of their compulsory system of taxation, and their financial embarrassments have given birth to that mystery of iniquity, gambling on the stock-exchange, with all its attendant moral corruption. Christianity, on the contrary, with its system of taxes, has always found abundant means for all its glorious enterprises. Look at our churches and monestaries, our charitable institutions for the relief of every human ailment and distress, our parishes and bishoprics spread over the surface of the globe; think of all the money that has been gathered for the poor, for our schools, our colleges and ancient universities; and remember that all this, with scarcely an exception, is the result of personal sacrifice, and you will have some idea of the life-giving power of Christianity.
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