Providing a unique political perspective, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) spoke of the importance of the family in keeping America’s founding values and vision strong.

“The family is under attack,” he said. “No fault divorce laws increase the divorce rate in states by 10-80%; the government does have a role to play. The policies of the left do make a difference. Government support of unmarried single mothers has had a huge impact as well as other programs that make fathers less of a necessity and more of an option for the raising of children and the establishment of families.”

Speaking passionately about the decay of the family in America and across the world, Santorum said that the licentiousness of our culture is eroding the family. “The government has a role to play and society has a role to play, and so far we have sat on the sidelines, choosing to side with free speech as opposed to the rights of families to be protected from harmful speech.

“Self-giving is at the heart of marriage and parenting. It’s also at the heart of the American experiment, because sacrificial love is at the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition, which is, of course, the foundation of the American vision.”

In his final remarks Santorum encouraged the audience to engage the surrounding culture in order to change it. “We need to have a much more conscious effort to get more people of faith—people who believe in the traditional values of America—to get involved in the culture, in every aspect, from journalism to film to music. As Catholics we are really pathetic at this. We need to engage.”