The word decadence, which at first meant simply "decline" in an abstract sense, is now most often used to refer to a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, honour, discipline, or skill at governing among the members of the elite of a very large social structure, such as an empire or nation state. By extension, it may refer to a decline in art, literature, science, technology, and work ethics, or to self-indulgent behavior.
George Pell was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy between 2014 and 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 and 2018. Ordained a priest in 1966 and bishop in 1987, he was made a cardinal in 2003. Pell served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014), the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) and an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne (1987–1996). He was also an author, columnist and public speaker. From 1996, Pell maintained a high public profile on a wide range of issues, while retaining an adherence to Catholic orthodoxy.
Harvie Krumpet is a 2003 Australian clay animation psychological comedy-drama short film written, directed and animated by Adam Elliot, and narrated by Geoffrey Rush. It tells the life story of Harvie Krumpet, a Polish-Australian man whose life is plagued by bad luck but who nevertheless remains optimistic.
Lindsey Eve (Vuolo) Handrinos is an American glamor model and actress best known for her appearance in Playboy as the November 2001 Playmate of the Month. She has appeared in a number of Playboy Special Editions, and in Playboy videos. She also appeared on TV shows such as The Girls Next Door and The Celebrity Apprentice.
Jacob Shmuel Boteach, commonly known as Shmuley Boteach, is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, and television host. Boteach is the author of 31 books, including the best seller Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy, and Kosher Jesus. For two seasons he hosted the prime time television series Shalom in the Home, which was one of TLC's highest-rated shows. His outspokenness has earned him praise and criticism. The Washington Post referred to him as "the most famous rabbi in America", Newsweek named him one of the 10 most influential rabbis in the United States, and The Jerusalem Post named him one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world.
World Youth Day 2008 was a Catholic youth festival that started on 15 July and continued until 20 July 2008 in Sydney, Australia. It was the first World Youth Day held in Australia and the first World Youth Day in Oceania. This meeting was decided by Pope Benedict XVI, during the Cologne World Youth Day of 2005. The theme was "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you".
Paul Fenech is an Australian filmmaker, film and television actor, director, producer and writer. He is best known for writing, directing, producing and starring in the television series Pizza, Swift and Shift Couriers, Housos,Bogan Hunters, Fat Pizza: Back in Business and Housos Vs. Virus: The Lockdown, as well as the motion pictures Fat Pizza (2003), Housos vs. Authority (2012), Fat Pizza vs. Housos (2014) and Dumb Criminals: The Movie (2015).
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat, based in Ballarat, Australia, is a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Melbourne. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and was established in 1874. Its geography covers the west, Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria. The cathedral is in St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat.
Anandan Pria Viswalingam is an Australian documentary and film maker. He is a Sydney-based producer, writer and director, known earlier for his work with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) network.
Yumi Tasma Stynes is an Australian feminist podcaster and author. She is the presenter of the ABC Radio podcast Ladies, We Need to Talk about female health and sexuality. Between 2000 and 2012, she presented the morning television show The Circle and was also a television presenter on Channel V Australia and Max. During 2013 she was a presenter on Sydney's Mix 106.5 FM radio breakfast program. A portrait of Stynes by Yoshio Honjo was a finalist for the 2022 Archibald Prize.
Samuel C. Heilman is a professor of Sociology at Queens College, City University of New York, who focuses on social ethnography of contemporary Jewish Orthodox movements.
Karla Grant is an Australian presenter, producer and journalist for the SBS's national Indigenous current affairs program Living Black, focusing on issues concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities within Australia.
Sleek Geeks is an Australian science television series, hosted by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Adam Spencer. The fourteen-part series aired from 3 January 2008, and was based on Kruszelnicki and Spencer's Sleek Geek Week travelling roadshow, as well as Kruszelnicki's Great Moments in Science broadcasts on Triple J radio. The show was co-hosted by fellow "geeks" Yumi Stynes, Ruben Meerman and Dr Stephen Bosi.
Jacob Immanuel Schochet was a Swiss-born Canadian rabbi who wrote on Hasidism. He was a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce is a 2008 Australian-Irish film directed by Michael James Rowland starring Irish actors Adrian Dunbar as Philip Conolly and Ciarán McMenamin as bushranger Alexander Pearce and an ensemble Australian cast, including Dan Wyllie, Don Hany and Chris Haywood. The film was shot on location in Tasmania and Sydney between April and May 2008.
Catholic sexual abuse cases in Australia, like Catholic Church sexual abuse cases elsewhere, have involved convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests, members of religious orders and other personnel which have come to light in recent decades, along with the growing awareness of sexual abuse within other religious and secular institutions.
The Paper Scissors were an Australian rock band that existed between 2005 and 2012. The last line-up consisted of Jai Pyne, Xavier Naughton and Ivan Lisyak. Their sound was described as "a combination of garage-punk, rock and soul". Australian music site Polaroids of Androids described them as "undoubtedly one of Sydney's finest bands of the past decade"
Kosher Jesus (2012) is a book by the Orthodox Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, focusing on the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. The book examines the rabbinic origins of the teachings of Jesus within the context of Second Temple Judaism in the 1st century and the New Testament, and compares scholarly views on the historical figure of Jesus with the theological ideals expressed by the Jewish writers of early rabbinic literature.
Moshe D. Gutnick is an Australian Orthodox rabbi, and a member of the ultra Orthodox Chabad Hasidic movement. Rabbi Gutnick is a senior member of the Beth Din in Sydney, Australia. Gutnick is currently President of the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand. Gutnick is the head of the NSW Kashrut Authority. He formerly served as the rabbi of the Bondi Mizrachi Synagogue in Sydney.
The idea that a common Judaeo-Christian ethics or Judeo-Christian values underpins American politics, law and morals has been part of the "American civil religion" since the 1940s. In recent years, the phrase has been associated with American conservatism, but the concept—though not always the exact phrase—has frequently featured in the rhetoric of leaders across the political spectrum, including that of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.
