New Orleans, one of Aymond's duties included the oversight of Catholic schools in the archdiocese. In 1998, Aymond allowed Brian Matherne, a coach at Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Norco, to remain in his post for several months after receiving information from an alleged abuse victim's father that Matherne had molested his son 13 years earlier. He dropped the matter without alerting police after unsuccessful attempts to speak to the alleged victim, then 24 years old, who later told the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office about the matter. Matherne was arrested and pled guilty to molesting 17 children over 15 years. He is serving a 30-year sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Aymond defended the church, but later stated he should have fired Matherne. In Austin three years later, Aymond began tightening the diocese's sex abuse policy, based partly on the Matherne case stating: "That painful experience – I will never forget it. It helped me to understand the complexity of pedophilia better." Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Austin Aymond was named coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Austin on June 2, 2000, by John Paul II; he was installed on August 3, 2000. He succeeded John E. McCarthy as the fourth bishop of Austin on January 2, 2001. The diocese grew rapidly (partly as a result of immigration) during Aymond's bishopric and actually had more churchgoers than many archdioceses, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Archbishop of New Orleans On June 12, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named Aymond the 14th archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He was installed on August 20, 2009, at the Saint Louis Cathedral. He continues, within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, to chair the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People and sits on the Committees for Campus Ministry, Education, Laity, and World Missions. In an ceremony in 2009 at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Benedict XVI bestowed the pallium upon Aymond. Aymond has faced challenges in "the aftermath of years of sex scandals and the unpopular consolidation of parishes and closing of churches for economic reasons" as phrased by Kevin McGill of the Associated Press. Even so, he said, "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would come back here as [arch]bishop." Shortly after his appointment as archbishop, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests issued a statement claiming he only "postures as someone