"You're welcome to join us."

Rocco Palmo writes of something wonderful he encountered last night in New York:

Later in the evening, while waiting to do a radio interview, I sat by the big fountain behind 30 Rock -- the GE Building, NBC Studios, etc. -- to kill time and just soak up being back here again.

It was a picture-perfect night, with just enough haze/smog in the air to give the lights of Times Square a brilliant shade of a "halo" effect. And then... from the distance... music could be heard. Voices and guitar. Joyous song.

"Holy! Holy! Holy!"

Over and over again.

"Holy! Holy! Holy!"

With each iteration, it came closer.

"Holy! Holy! Holy!"

Repetitive, exuberant chants are no surprise to anyone used to this place -- but from the sound, it became clear that these weren't the Hare Krishnas everyone's used to seeing roam the downtown streets.

And then they appeared: Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Sisters of Life, a host of other orders male and female, cassocked sems and, more than any other, layfolk. Fifty, maybe 70 of 'em. All young. All together. All one. All looking just like me.

"Holy! Holy! Holy!"

Each bore candles, turned heads and kept the singing up, making it a bit louder as the horns and engine-noises of 6th Ave. right by Radio City on a Friday night sought to drown them out.

I couldn't help but smile, simply to find that, in the midst of the city some have sought to portray as the global seat of the secularist behemoth, I wasn't alone.

"Holy! Holy! Holy!"

Seeing a beaming onlooker, one perceptive Sister of Life jumped out of the crowd and handed me a prayer-card.

"We're heading down to where he's staying to sing 'Happy Birthday,'" she said. Clearly, no further explanation was necessary.

"You're welcome to join us."