The article examines the contemporary youth from the axis of the religiosity and religious adherence to Catholic institutions. The first section presents data on the profile of young people and shows that work and study are important demands to this segment. The young Brazilians also express belief in social change. Based on data of a quantitative research with young religious, in Baixada Fluminense, and primary data on young people in the Institute Toca de Assis, the second part of the article argue that the latter young, coming from its ideals of poverty and denial of the knowledge, can represent a challenge to situation of the young Brazilian society. It compares the different forms of adherence to religious institutions and suggests that Toca de Assis, in spite of the institutionalization process that it goes through, has challenged the traditional institutions of religious life and its mechanisms of power and is presented as an empirical object relevant to the analysis of new religious sensibilities of the youth.
Contemporary Youth; Religious Life; Catholicism; Power; Toca de Assis
