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FIRST ON FOX — Bishop Robert Barron — one of the most popular Catholic clergymen in the United States — held his first interview with a Democratic lawmaker on social issues important to the Catholic faith.
California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna spoke with the bishop in the latest episode of “Bishop Barron Presents” to be released this week.
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Khanna and Barron discussed hard topics including religious liberty, Big Tech and abortion in a gesture of bridging ideological gaps.
Khanna — a Hindu whose father was arrested for support of Mahatma Gandhi in India — expressed intense support for faith’s role in the public square and the necessity of religious belief in shaping good policy.
In the interview, he praised the shared value of hesitation to respond to violence with violence found in both Hinduism and Christianity.
HOW ST PATRICK’S SAYS IT WAS TRICKED INTO HOSTING TRANS ACTIVIST FUNERAL, WHY IT HELD MASS OF REPARATION
California Rep. Ro Khanna, pictured here, told Bishop Robert Barron about the importance of the Hindu faith to himself and his family growing up, saying that religion plays an important role in a moral political system.(Word on Fire)
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“We need faith informing politics because otherwise, someone hits you, someone strikes you, and the human response is you want to strike them back,” Khanna said. “What faith at its best does is make us pause and ask ‘What is the ideal way to live?’”
“That doesn’t mean we can always live in an ideal way in a fallen world […] but certainly it should help shape the action and give us pause,” he added.
Barron, who serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester and previously served as an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, asked Khanna about perceived hostility toward religion coming from the Democratic Party.
“What I’ve noticed in the last, say, 30 years, is the Left becoming increasingly hostile to religion,” Barron told Khanna. “Not even indifferent to it, I mean actively hostile to it. And that worries a lot of us.”
Khanna recounted an incident in his youth when his family moved to a town that worried the new Hindu family would not be willing to put out the traditional Christmas candles that all other houses used to illuminate the neighborhood — a tradition the Khannas were more than willing to join.
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“In my view, having a robust engagement with people’s faith is a better way than telling people ‘Don’t have faith in the public square,’” Khanna told the bishop.
MOST POPULAR PRIEST ON SOCIAL MEDIA REACTS TO VIRAL TIKTOKS ABOUT GOD, INTERPRETATIONS OF THE BIBLE
California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, left, speaks with Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester on the latest episode of the bishop’s interview series.(Word on Fire)
Barron also pressed Khanna on key social issues, including immigration and abortion.
Regarding immigration, Khanna said that while there needs to be recognition that immigration can be valuable to the United States, some in the Democratic Party may have lost touch with basic border policies.
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“There’s a sense — I think from some, and I don’t want to be unfair about it — but there is a sense from some maybe on our side that we are not doing enough to protect the border,” Khanna told Barron. “We, in my view, should be funding border agents, we should be funding immigration judges, we should be funding technology. We should be saying clearly that a nation needs safe and secure borders and not be demonizing the border patrol or not funding it.”
Abortion proved the most contentious issue during the interview, with a calm but increasingly tense back-and-forth on the humanity of unborn babies.
“The framework in my standing, California, is that you can have an abortion up until viability. And then after that, it’s an exception for the health of the mother in that circumstance, which is very, very rare,” Khanna told Barron in response to the bishop’s assertion that abortion is the single biggest issue responsible for Catholics disaffiliating from the Democratic Party.
The representative continued, “Now, my view is that that decision should be for the woman and her doctor in getting that healthcare. But I think the challenge is that we also start to talk about these exceedingly rare cases that then become the conversation — where that’s not the majority of the abortions by any stretch, probably less than one or two percent.”
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Bishop Robert Barron has previously interviewed actors, directors, political activists, and public intellectuals about the role of faith in society.(Word on Fire)
“Even if that were the case, that is still a lot of babies being murdered from our perspective. And how is that ever acceptable in a decent society?” Barron asked.
The bishop continued, “Now that the thing has moved to the state level — well good, I’ll take any restriction I can get. So if Democrats are willing to say ‘We’ll restrict [abortion] here or there,’ great — and I think the Church would embrace that and say, ‘At least we’re moving in the right direction.’ But I think we need to have a conversation about life and the human being.”
The “Bishop Barron Presents” interview will premiere on Feb. 22.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Telluride, one of the best-known ski resorts in the Western U.S., plans to close in the coming days due to a labor dispute between its owner and the ski patrol union.
The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association voted Tuesday to strike Saturday after contract negotiations since June failed to yield an agreement on pay. With no more talks planned before the weekend, Telluride Ski Resort said it will not open that day.
“We are concerned that any organization, particularly one that exists to help people, would do something that will have such a devastating effect on our community,” owner Chuck Horning said Wednesday in a statement.
It was not immediately clear whether the closure will last longer. Resort officials were working on a plan to reopen even if the strike continues, according to the statement.
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The patrollers are seeking to be paid more in line with their counterparts at other resorts in the region.
The union wants starting pay to rise from $21 to $28 per hour, and for wages for patrollers with more than 30 years of experience to increase from $30-$36 per hour to $39-$48.60 per hour.
While resort officials sought to lay blame for the impending closure on the union, Andy Dennis, interim safety director and spokesperson for patrollers’ association, said it lies with Horning.
“He’s being a bully. This is what bullies do, take their toys and run,” Dennis said. “All he has to do is give us a fair contract, and this would all be over.”
Ski patrollers sometimes argue for more pay on the grounds that the cost of living is high in ski towns and they are responsible for people’s safety. Patrollers’ duties include attending to injured skiers and the controlled release of avalanches with explosives when nobody is in range.
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Even without a strike, Telluride has yet to get going fully this season, with unusually warm weather meaning just 20 of the resort’s 149 trails have been able to open.
Patrollers around the Rocky Mountain region have been voting on unionizing recently.
Last year an almost two-week strike closed many runs and caused long lift lines at Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort. That strike ended when Colorado-based Vail Resorts acceded to demands including a $2-an-hour base pay increase and raises for senior ski patrollers.
Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado (12) threw a pass against the Cal Golden Bears during the first half of Wednesday’s Hawaii Bowl at the Ching Complex.
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Reserve quarterback Luke Weaver came off the sideline and threw a 22-yard scoring pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left to deliver the Hawaii football team a 35-31 victory over California in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Wednesday.
The Golden Bears took a 31-28 lead with 1:57 to play on Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s 1-yard sneak.
The Warriors drove to the 22 on quarterback Micah Alejado’s 13-yard pass to Cam Barfield. But Alejado was hurt on the play, and he hobbled to the UH sideline.
Weaver, who was activated for this game, then lofted the decisive scoring pass to Cenacle.
Weaver was limited to four regular-season games to preserve his redshirt season. But the redshirt limit does not apply to the postseason, clearing Weaver to be activated.
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The Warriors scored 21 points in a row to tie it at 21 with 13:50 to play.
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Down 21-13, Micah Alejado lofted a 3-yard pass to the threshold of the end zone. Pofele Ashlock made a leaping catch, then curled the ball around the right pylon for the touchdown.
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On the 2-point play, Alejado under-handed a shuttle pass to Barfield, who found the end zone to tie it.
Led by Campbell High graduate Sagapolutele’s accurate passing — many on side-armed throws to the flats — the Golden Bears scored on their first three possessions for a 21-0 lead.
But the Warriors eventually got on the board in the second quarter. A play after Pofele Ashlock dropped a screen, he made a one-handed grab for a 30-yard gain. The Warriors drove to the 13, from where Alejado found Ashlock at the end of a corner route to cut the deficit to 21-7 with 3:57 left in the half.
On the Bears’ next possession, Matagi Thompson broke up Sagapolutele’s third-down pass. On fourth down, reserve defensive back Riis Weber blocked Michael Kern’s punt. That set up Kansei Matsuzawa’s 29-yard field goal.
This time of year, Interstate 70 through Colorado’s mountains is usually slick, snowy, and packed with travelers heading to ski resorts. But on Christmas Eve, the road to the high country was sunny, dry, and noticeably quieter.
In downtown Idaho Springs, the mild December weather has meant fewer visitors stopping to eat, shop, and walk around town, and businesses are feeling it.
“It’s a lot more fun when it’s snowy,” one resident said. “People keep saying the weather is amazing, and I’m like, ‘no… I’m ready for snow,’” said resident Katie Baker.
Katie Baker laments the lack of snow from a nearly empty Idaho Springs street, where businesses say the unseasonably warm weather is harming their business.
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At Westbound Bar & Grill, bar manager Carrie Doyle said Christmas week is typically one of their biggest of the year. Instead, the restaurant sat nearly empty.
“Usually we have skiers and snowboarders coming through, meeting family here before heading up the hill,” Doyle said. “If you don’t have people, you don’t have income.”
A few doors down, Tibetan Sisters Art owner Paulden Hester said business has been slow, especially after last week’s power outage.
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“Overall, business is down,” Hester said. “Hopefully that will change.”
Tibetan Sisters Art in Idaho Springs, Colorado, sits nearly empty on an unseasonably warm Christmas Eve afternoon on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025.
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At the Majestic Art Gallery, artist Mimsi Milton remembered last Christmas, when 125 customers packed the shop. This year, she said, “it’s very slow.”
CBS Colorado First Alert meteorologists say warm and dry stretches in December aren’t unusual when high pressure sits over the region, but this year, strong downslope winds amplified the warmth even more.
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Mountain snow is expected to return this weekend, something Idaho Springs businesses are counting on.
