SLATER, THOMAS. - Moral theologian, b. at Dinckley (Lancashire) on 16 Sept. 1855, d. at Liverpool on 3 Dec. 1928. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1874 and was professor of moral theology at St. Bruno's College in Wales (1892-1911); subsequently, due to an eye ailment, he moved to the parish of St. Francis Xavier in Liverpool, where he became a much sought-after confessor and spiritual director.
He authored several highly regarded works on moral theology:
- *Tuttia et iure* (London 1898);
- *A Manual of Moral Theology* (2 vols., New York 1908; 5th ed. ibid. 1925);
- *Cases of Conscience for English-Speaking Countries* (2 vols., ibid. 1911-12);
- *Questions of Moral Theology* (ibid. 1915);
- *Foundation of True Morality* (ibid. 1920).
The significance of these works lies in their application of doctrine to complex cases of modern life, in which the problems discussed and resolved (abortion, games of chance, life insurance, copyright, devaluation, railway fares, etc.) are drawn from the Anglo-Saxon and American world, where the mingling of populations has created casuistic combinations never encountered in countries of homogeneous cultural structure.