The Bishop of Magonza, Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, born in Münster in 1811, was the forerunner of Catholic social doctrine in Germany. During his priesthood he carefully observed the new world of industrial work and recognised the Church’s need to confront the pressing problems posed by industrialisation. Society and the State were not up to those challenges. The workers in the factories were really the poor in society. He has gone down in history as the "Labourer’s Bishop" from Magonza because of his endless commitment to fair wages, to humane working conditions and the social responsibilities of entrepreneurs.

According to Bishop Ketteler, the issue of social justice was a real problem, not abstractly sociological. The survival of workers, their daily bread was his main concern. The survival of workers and the possibility of guaranteeing their families sufficient financial support was socially just. Due to the "iron law of salaries" inspired by La Salle, it was necessary to find new and innovative ways of overcoming the problems arising over the horizon. The worker should be a co-owner of the production company. Hence his availability to an unlimited commitment to the factory would increase and he would earn and produce more.

Facing over 10.000 workers, the Bishop pronounced his words clearly speaking to those responsible in the Sate and in industry. Together with the workers he claimed the right to: 1) increased salaries, 2) the reduction of working hours, 3) guaranteed rest periods 4) the abolition of child labour and finally 5) the abolition of mothers and young people working in the factories. His was not simply theory, but rather a real attempt to create equal reciprocity between workers and entrepreneurs.

For this reason, Ketteler had avoided criticising the economic system as a whole and avoided denying its legitimacy in the modern world. Bishop Ketteler managed to make social conditions and these changes acceptable to all people: fair wages instead of exploitation, security instead of anxious uncertainty and the first contractual agreements.

Bishop von Ketteler drew his motivation from his faith in Jesus Christ. Political organisation and a life organised according to human rights were practicable and possible only when humankind was subjected to its Creator. This is what Ketteler wrote in his important book The issue of labourers and Christianity: "Only Jesus Christ will in future be able to help workers. If faith in Him and in His Spirit permeates the world, then the workers’ issue will be solved" (p. 461).

In those dark ages of industrialisation, social justice in Bishop Ketteler’s commitment to workers derived from faith in God’s creative strength, which created man to his likeness. His commitment inspired by faith led to a new appreciation of humankind’s work and also resulted in a more intense commitment within the Church herself expressed doctrinally with the Social Encyclical "Rerum novarum" by Pope Leo XIII.