Chaput also underscored the nation's other "deep and chronic problems" of drugs, unemployment, inadequate schools, and inner-city hunger.
The Philadelphia archbishop also spotlighted the rise in secularism over recent years, saying that Americans who identify as atheist, agnostic, or of no religious affiliation rose from 16 percent to 23 percent from 2007 to 2014. This shift, Chaput said, "has political and legal implications," particularly seen in the attacks against religious freedom and human rights.
"Religious freedom – as the nation has traditionally understood it – can't be a major concern for people who don't respect the importance of religious faith," Chaput said.
"Human rights, without a grounding in God or some higher moral order, are really just a matter of public consensus," he continued.
While many leaders and politicians have promised change with various notions such as income equality and increased opportunities, or various other plans of action, Chaput believes the only antidote to the nation's plague is a renewal of faith in God.
"The point is, God's authority ensures human freedom," Chaput said.
"When God leaves the stage, the state inevitably expands to fill his place. Without the biblical God, we end up in some disguised form of idolatry. And it usually involves politics," he continued.
Despite the culture's downfalls, Chaput said people still have the desire for beauty, relationship, and new life – all of which can be found in the treasure of the Catholic Church and its proclamation of the truth.
"People still have a need for beauty, which means that beauty has the power to evade the machinery of logic and reach right into the human soul," he said.
According to Chaput, the nation is desperately in need of the uncompromising truth, saying that before the problem can be fixed, individuals need to wake up to the reality of its challenge.
He also encouraged Catholics to protect their identities in Christ and act as faithful witnesses to the truth, saying "this isn't a time for Catholics to be weak or apologetic." At the same time, Chaput also noted this proclamation of truth should be spoke with love, patience and mercy.
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Ultimately, Chaput said, the nation's future will depend on the power of "personal witness," through every individual's pursuit of sanctity.
"Leon Bloy, the great French Catholic convert, liked to say that, in the end, the only thing that matters is to be a saint," Chaput said.
"So the task tonight, when each of us leaves here, is to begin that path. And may God guide us all in pursuing it."