journal of youth and theology 16 (2017) 185-189

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Book Reviews

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Jayeel Serrano Cornelio
Being Catholic in the Contemporary Philippines: Young People Reinterpreting
Religion. Routledge, London, 2016. 186 pages. isbn: 9781138572386.

Jayeel Serrano Cornelio’s book is an analysis and reflection on his research

on the Roman Catholic identity of university students in the Philippines. The
book arises out of his Doctoral research while at the National University of Sin-
gapore and postdoctoral work at Lancaster University. It is based on qualitative
research and locates itself in the social science / practical theology literature
that utilises similar methodologies to seek to understand the theology and reli-
gious identity of particular groups of young people.1 It also locates itself within
the literature of world Christianity which, as he notes, largely ignores the be-
liefs of young people.
Being Catholic in the Philippines seeks to identify what being Catholic means
to university students within the Philippines. His research demonstrates that
Catholic identity is flourishing among the young people who participate in
Catholic campus organisations but this is often different from the understand-
ing of the institutional church. He nuances these differences and develops a
theory of individualism that is strongly connected to the institutional church.
The young people have reinterpreted their faith and yet understand them-
selves to be deeply loyal to that faith even when they rarely attend Mass or
regularly attend Protestant campus organisations.
As is the case with many books that arise out of PhD research, Cornelio’s
book is organised in the manner of a typical thesis. Chapters one through three
lay the groundwork for the research. Chapter one serves as the introduction
and outlines the purposes, importance, and structure of the book. Chapter

1 For instance: David T Gortner, (2013) Varieties of Personal Theology: Charting the Beliefs and
Values of American Young Adults, Farnham: Ashgate; Anne Phillips, The Faith of Girls (Farn-
ham: Ashgate, 2011), Steve Emery-Wright, (2012) Now That Was Worship, Calver: Cliff College
Publishing.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/24055093-01602006

186 Book Reviews

two serves as a literature review that locates the research within the socio-
logical fields of religious identity and youth studies. Chapter two also explores
the different understandings of religious identity within sociology and opts
for personal religious meaningfulness rather than institutional definitions.
This fits well with his starting point, which is the young people’s perspectives.
Chapter three carefully explains and justifies the qualitative approach taken
during the fieldwork. The main question he asked in individual interviews and
focus groups was, ‘What does being Catholic mean to you?’ He interviewed
62 students from a variety of non-theological majors, from private Catho-
lic, private non-sectarian, and state universities. Chapters four, five and six
examine the findings from three different perspectives. Chapter four provides
insights into the two main categories, into which he placed young people. He
does this by presenting biographical notes from one exemplar of each catego-
ry. There was the orthodox Catholic who regularly participated in Mass and
identified with institutional Catholicism in terms of doctrines surrounding
the Virgin Mary and sacraments. The creative Catholic, on the other hand,
harboured a self-defined religious identity focused on such matters as helping
the poor and experiencing God personally while marginalising the importance
of regular Mass and strict doctrinal adherence. All but four of his interview-
ees were in the creative category and are largely the focus of the rest of the
book.
Chapter five answers the main question of the book by identifying three
important themes key to the young people’s understanding of ‘being Catholic’.
These themes are: a personal and experiential relationship with God; an ac-
tion-oriented relationality in which ‘right living’ is more important than ‘right
believing’; and a critique of the Catholic leadership’s perceived misguidedness
and their peers’ religious insincerity. Their practice lacks typical outward iden-
tifiers such as the Mass, Rosary, and saints, but does include the experiential
nature of the faith that the interviewees find to be central. Chapter six seeks to
further nuance the findings in which the moral views of the young people are
explored and compared to both the Church’s official doctrine and the popular
culture of the Philippines.
The final three chapters present the author’s new theory of individualisa-
tion, its origins, and the implications for him personally and for the Catho-
lic church. What is new about the theory is the process of individualisation
paradoxically occurs within the religious institution, using its resources and
practices to construct their theology and practice. In Chapter eight he identi-
fies how this is different from Western individualisation and capitalism. In the
final chapter, he argues that this is a positive way forward for the Church and
faith.

journal of youth and theology 16 (2017) 185-189

Book Reviews 187

Though the book was engaging and helpful, it did raise a few critical ques-
tions for the reviewer. First, the methodology left one wondering if the large
portion of the young adult Catholics who do not attend university, or who do
but do not belong to a campus organisation, would have similar views. There
are always limits to any research and this critical comment is to suggest that it
would be helpful to carry on the research for the sake of theory development
and for the benefit of the Church. Methodologically, Chapter six on moral at-
titudes seemed in danger both of generalising qualitative data and possibly
stretching claims.
A positive contribution of the book to the academy is the new theory of
‘indwelt individualism’. The idea of faith construction as a self-defining activ-
ity that takes place within the confines of the religious tradition and uses its
resources has great potential for the church and youth ministry. The young
people in the research both paradoxically maintain tradition through their
practices while as the same time engaging in tradition construction. This criti-
cal process means that the church continues to influence and guide while at
the same time potentially being transformed by the young people in an ongo-
ing process of contextualisation.
As one who engages in similar research, I enjoyed the book and found it
helpful from both an academic and practical standpoint. Though at times it
reads like a PhD thesis, the biographical stories brought it alive and breathed
emotion into the young people’s lives and thus the book while also providing
new insights.

Steve Emery-Wright
Hyupsung University, South Korea
s.emerywright@gmail.com

journal of youth and theology 16 (2017) 185-189