"Chaput's assessment of their Catholic faith is thus nothing more than a strictly personal opinion, rather than a proper canonical judgment which Chaput has zero authority to make!"
When Chaput speaks at a Catholic university or writes in his archdiocesan newspaper or preaches from any pulpit, it is not a "strictly personal opinion." He is an ordained teacher of the Catholic church. While he may have zero authority to make a canonical judgement, he assumes authority when he wears a miter and is addressed as "your Excellency."
Perhaps he should re-read Jn. 15:15-16, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what the taste is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain."
Jesus expects fruit that will remain, not the remnants that Chaput is trying to preserve..