"eMinistry: Connecting With the Net Generation"

by Andrew Careaga ($10.99, 216 pages, Kregel Publications)

Andrew Careaga recognizes that today's teenagers are extremely Internet savvy and that churches must make an extra effort to reach them in that environment.

"I think it's important to be more relevant to the online world," he says. "The Internet is here to stay."

Careaga cites a recent study reporting that 75 percent of teens age 12 to 17 use the Internet on a regular basis.

"It's about a form of communication they're using," says the youth pastor. "The Internet is more than a medium; it's also a culture.

"We should be a part of that culture."

The Internet can be an important tool in ministry, a tool that churches must master or risk becoming irrelevant to the Internet generation, he says. Careaga wrote the book so people in ministry could have a better understanding about how to reach Net-savvy youth.

One reason that religious Web sites and chat rooms are so popular is the anonymity the Internet grants, the author says.

"The Internet provides a less threatening forum" he says. "The anonymity allows us to approach subjects we might not talk about.

"It's more interactive. (Teenagers) might feel like they're more involved and active."

While it's possible that the rise of religion on the Internet might lead to churches that exist entirely on the Web, Careaga tends to think the Internet will be a supplement to physical churches, not a replacement.

"I don't know where all this cyber church stuff is going, but I find it fascinating," he says.

"Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Fruitful Branch on the Vine, Jesus"

edited by the Missionaries of Charity ($4.95, 80 pages, St. Anthony Messenger Press)

This small book is a celebration of Mother Teresa's life and work put together by the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the order Mother Teresa founded.

The book, which observes the third anniversary of her death, is an updated edition of "A Faithful Living Branch on the Vine, Jesus" published in 1998 in Italian.

The book includes original prayers written in Mother Teresa's own hand and excerpts from her writings. The short, simple prayers provide insight into Mother Teresa's life.

The sisters of her order have added line drawings to illustrate Mother Teresa's words.

A chronological biography of her life closes out the book.

"Seeing God: Ten Life-Changing Lessons of the Kabbalah"

by Rabbi David Aaron ($23.95, 172 pages, Tarcher/Putnam)

"Seeing God" is a down-to-earth look at Judaism's Kabbalah, which Aaron describes as "the mystical interpretation of the teachings of Moses." Most of the book is devoted to explaining the 10 sefirot, loosely translated as characteristics of Kabbalah.

They include beauty, wisdom, kindness, truth and justice.

Aaron offers anecdotes from his life that make the material interesting and approachable. Each chapter ends with "seeing exercises" designed to help people incorporate the 10 sefirot into their lives and relationships.

Aaron is the founder and dean of the Isralight Institute, an international organization with centers in Israel and the United States.

His previous book was titled "Endless Light."

He lives in the Old City of Jerusalem.

"Faith in the Wilderness: The Story of the Catholic Indian Missions"

by Margaret and Stephen Buson ($17.95, 272 pages, Our Sunday Visitor)

The histories of the Roman Catholic Church and Native Americans merged in America's early history when Catholic missionaries fanned out across the Plains with the goal of converting the natives.

"Faith in the Wildnerness" looks at that intertwined history and its impacts.

The book is told from an undeniably Catholic point of view, yet in places acknowledges the problems caused by some of the church's policies of the time. The historical narrative also touches on major events such as the passage of the Dawes Act (which divided up reservations and opened them to whites) and the massacre at Wounded Knee.

There is also information on local tribes and missionaries.

Drawings of people and Native American artifacts are scattered throughout the book. Four appendixes include information on all Indian missions in America through 1908, short biographies on Catholic missionaries and a duplication of the Statement on the Native Americans originally published by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 1977.

Margaret and Stephen Bunson, who are mother and son, have written other Catholic books.

She wrote "Kateri Tekakwitha," about a Native American girl who has been beatified by the Catholic Church, and "Father Damien: The Man and His Era."

Stephen, an archaeologist, is the co-author of the "Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesoamerica" and the author of "Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints."