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What am I, a chief investment officer of one of the country's largest investment managers, doing hailing down strangers at night on the streets of New York City?

1/2 1/2 1/2Are you Catholic? 1/2 1/2 1/2 my friends and I ask. 1/2 1/2 1/2Would you like a rosary? Would you like to go to confession here tonight? 1/2 1/2 1/2

1/2 1/2 1/2Are you kidding? 1/2 1/2 1/2 responds one man. 1/2 1/2 1/2Been there, done that 1/2 1/2 1/2 says another. 1/2 1/2 1/2God, no 1/2 1/2 1/2 chimes in a fast-walking atheist.

1/2 1/2 1/2You Catholics are all pedophiles 1/2 1/2 1/2 yells one angry woman. Another hands us a bag of dog poop. Sixty-year-old Michael even has advice: 1/2 1/2 1/2Why don't you evangelize out in the Middle East, where they need you? 1/2 1/2 1/2

1/2 1/2 1/2We're needed here, 1/2 1/2 1/2 we respond. 1/2 1/2 1/2This city needs Jesus, too. It needs His love. 1/2 1/2 1/2

Some nights the tide turns in the Lord's favor. A young woman approaches us, decked out in showy attire. 1/2 1/2 1/2Are you guys really Catholic? I didn't think there were any Catholics left Can I have a purple rosary? 1/2 1/2 1/2

1/2 1/2 1/2Sure Where are you going? We have lots to talk about. 1/2 1/2 1/2

1/2 1/2 1/2I've got to run I'm a stripper. But I'm going to pray with this rosary. 1/2 1/2 1/2

At times, the neighborhood even begins rooting for us. Strangers call out: 1/2 1/2 1/2Way to go 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2Your courage is inspiring 1/2 1/2 1/2

We're in our groove now, engaging strangers with joy 1/2 1/2 1/2 and seeing some of them later in church. On the rough streets of the City, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Christ, we're no longer alone; we feel God's grace.

You will, too, as you read the dozens of riveting 1/2 1/2 1/2 and often funny 1/2 1/2 1/2 stories in these pages, about ordinary Catholics from the financial sector evangelizing their wary New York neighbors. Indeed, so fascinating are their experiences, you may be tempted one day to join them.

About the Author

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Stephen Auth has had a long career on Wall Street, first with Prudential Investments in the 1980s and 1990s, and since 2000 with Federated Investors, where he serves as executive vice president and a chief investment officer of Federated Global Equities. Steve is a frequent guest on CNBC, Fox Business News, and Bloomberg TV, a long-standing participant in Barron's annual investment outlook panel, a member of The Economic Club of New York and The New York Society of Security Analysts, and a chartered financial analyst (CFA). He earned his undergraduate degree at Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude, and his graduate degree at Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.Steve is a member of the Regnum Christi movement and sits on the national board of the Lumen Institute, which he helped found in New York. He has participated in missions in Mexico, and with his wife, Evelyn, has led the New York City street mission for ten years. Steve and Evelyn are involved in a number of other apostolic activities, including a spiritual tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art called "Man's Search for God: A History of Art through the Prism of Faith," which they developed and give on occasional Friday evenings. Steve also serves on the board of the Program for Church Management, being developed in Rome by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.Steve and Evelyn have two wonderful sons, Richard and Michael Auth.