At Washington, a gunman coolly and calmly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at the teeming subway entrance to the Pentagon complex Thursday evening, wounding two police officers before being shot and critically wounded, officials said.

He hit two officers, both of whom have injuries that are not life-threatening. The officers fired back, and the suspect was hit. His injuries are more serious.

The incident happened at 6:40 p.m., when the man wearing a coat -- with "no real emotion in his face" -- approached the officers outside the Pentagon Metro station.

The Pentagon is one of the largest office buildings in the world with three times the floor space of New York's Empire State Building, according to its official Web site.

Some 23,000 military and civilian employees work there.

Tune in her for more updates of the said stampede.

CANTERBURY, England (CNS) -- The spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion called for moratoriums on the blessing of same-sex unions, the ordination of openly gay people and naming bishops for disgruntled Anglicans in other church jurisdictions. "I hope that a little more mutual responsibility and accountability, a bit more willingness to walk in step will make us more like a church" rather than a loose collection of nation-based Christian communities, Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury said at an Aug. 3 press conference. The archbishop spoke at the end of the Lambeth Conference, a 19-day meeting of Anglican bishops from around the world. Some 200 bishops declined their invitations to participate because of the presence of bishops from North America, where some dioceses bless same-sex unions and where an openly gay priest was ordained a bishop.

St. Francis of Assisi, the beloved saint who sang the praises of Lady Poverty, offers an unexpected lesson for business professionals, whose rightful concerns include earning a profit rather than pursuing poverty. There are few saints who have had such a profound effect on the Church and the world at large as St. Francis. And certainly among his gifts was raising the awareness of the world to not only the needs of the poor, but also the virtue of embracing detachment to material goods.

Most of us aren’t in a position to literally give up everything and live in what we might term strict poverty. But we can strive for a detachment from the things of this world.

This is true even for monks. Monks (such as the Benedictine, Camaldalese, and Cistercian orders) do not take a vow of poverty. The Evangelical Councils, as we term the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, are a relatively “new” thing in the Church, at least from a monk’s perspective. They only date from about the 13th century. Monks go back a thousand years previous. It was with the mendicant orders, the beggars who lived off donations, especially the Franciscans and Dominicans, that a spotlight was shone on the value of poverty.

Since monks are self supporting, we have always been involved in various enterprises and commerce. The value of private property and what we might term Christian Capitalism is a fundamental aspect of our life. Probably a better term than “private property” is property stewardship. We’re really just called to be stewards of certain portions of creation for the Creator, our ultimate CEO.

Monks do not have any personal possessions, and so de facto live the vow of poverty as the newer congregations live it. But our monasteries have possessions and all the tools necessary to live our life well.

Ours is not a poverty of “lack,” but rather a poverty of simplicity that avoids superfluity – we have and use what we need in order to do what God has called us to do. Any wealth that remains is used for two purposes: almsgiving and prudent foresight/preparation for future needs. This is perhaps a good model for everyone in the world.

I think we can, and should, extend this to our businesses. My monastery’s business, LaserMonks, promotes “Commerce with Compassion.” Wouldn’t this be an apt motto for all our enterprises? Incorporated businesses are considered a juridic person by the government. Shouldn’t they be held to the same standards to which God holds each of us as individuals?

ATLANTA (CNS) -- Although Catholic youths are used to doing service work, they need to find a way to connect their volunteering with their faith, according to speakers at a conference in Atlanta.

Service activities have become commonplace in Catholic high schools and for confirmation candidates, but the volunteer work almost has become a "requirement to fulfill," said Jill Rauh, youth and young adult coordinator for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.

Rauh, one of the speakers July 25 on the final day of the Social Action Summer Institute at Oglethorpe University, said there needs to be more of a connection among social issues, action and the teachings of the church.

Rauh led the session called "The Prophetic Role of Young Catholics" with Grace Cassetta, diocesan director of youth ministry and adolescent catechesis in the Diocese of Las Cruces, N.M.
"Youth really have a special role in our church," Rauh told a classroom of people from Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, as she spoke about the roles of young people described in Scripture and young saints honored by the Catholic Church. "We need to be aware of this as we go into parish ministry."

In the seminar, the attendees were asked for some words or phrases describing today's generation of youths. The long list they came up with included "action-oriented," "tech-savvy" and "passionate."

The list was then put into perspective as Rauh and Cassetta led the participants through a series of statistics compiled from several different sources. The women touched on important facets of the youth community, including their political ideals, social action experience and personalities.

"The goal in terms of social mission is to help teens recognize they are part of a larger community," said Rauh.

The speakers said they were specifically speaking of the segment of the population known as Generation Y, or the "millennials" -- those born between the years 1979 and 1997.

According to a survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, only 18 percent of this age group attends Mass weekly; 36 percent attends Mass monthly. However, of those who do attend Mass monthly or more frequently, 85 percent believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Cassetta believes that "faith sharing" is an extremely important aspect of helping deepen the awareness of young Catholics.

"There is a difference between handing them a doctrine and saying this is what we believe and actually living it and explaining why we believe it," she said.

During the session participants discussed different strategies that could be used to help youths make more spiritual connections. Participants suggested that church leaders make an effort to talk to teens one-on-one and give them leadership roles.

Catarina Torres from the Diocese of Dallas said service projects are good for young people, but if they don't have any relevance to the teachings of the church they can become monotonous and lose meaning.

Other participants suggested that parish leaders use social networking Web sites, such as Facebook, to arrange activities for youths and give them a chance to spread the message to their friends.

Rauh believes that for teens service-oriented projects are a "starting point," which can lead to "permanent change" if leaders help bring more meaning to the activities.

"There is a deeper level to service that we want these teens to experience," she said.