This book, based on extensive original research, examines Catholicism in the contemporary Philippines, where it is flourishing. However, the book shows that young people are often adopting a different, more individualised approach to Catholicism centred around a personal and experiential relationship with God, which is frequently out of step with the official position. The book argues that this reinterpreting of religion by young people has the potential to alter fundamentally the nature of Catholicism in the Philippines, but that, nevertheless, young people's new approach involves a solid, enduring commitment and a strong view of their own Catholic, religious identity.

Jayeel Serrano Cornelio is Director and Assistant Professor of the Development Studies Program at the Ateneo de Manila University, the Philippines. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity.

1. Young people and the changing face of Christianity 2. Rethinking religious identity 3. Researching youth and religious identity 4. Will the Real Catholic Please Stand Up? 5. Reinterpreting religion: Creative Catholics and their reflexive spirituality 6. Conservative yet liberal: Creative Catholics and their moral attitudes 7. Indwelt Individualisation: Creative Catholics and the emotional anthology of resources 8. The Isolated Generation? 9. Being Catholic