THE YALE HERALD FRESHMAN ISSUE is online. Most telling headline: “Practicing religion at Yale need not be difficult.” Wow, such enthusiasm!

The article itself is more or less accurate about the state of religious life at Yale. I was lucky enough to get ensconced in a small, vibrant Catholic subculture centered around the fat and funny Dominicans of St. Mary’s. I can’t really complain about the “Catholicism makes life easy!” flavor of the comments praising the college chapel’s 5 PM Mass, since my alarm went off at 4:45 many a Sunday afternoon, as I tried to haul my sorry self to Mass before the Gospel reading began. Yale’s worldliness verges on the pornographic (oh right, click here for my basic take on Yale), but the intellectual atmosphere can be great for believers who welcome a challenge.

Religious life was pretty much the last thing I cared about when I applied. (The chaplain’s office sends each incoming freshman a little card asking you to describe your “relationship with God”; I wrote, “Fraught.” Can’t remember if I was snarky enough to actually mail it in though.) Little did I know how much my stay at Yale would change me for life, at least.

In case any Yale freshmen read this blog (I’m having delusions of adequacy again…), I note that the Herald is generally much, much more accurate and fun than The Yale Daily News Regrets The Error. The YDN took on a strange and heartening moderate-rightward tilt toward the end of my time in sunny New Haven, but it’ll never compare to Yale’s Finest Publication of course. If you want a real freshmeat–I mean, freshman–issue, click here.