who takes clergy sex crimes seriously". Aymond's predecessor, Archbishop Alfred Hughes, implemented a controversial post-hurricane Katrina church consolidation program that reduced the diocese from 142 parishes to 108. The storm drove away nearly a quarter of its former membership and left it with nearly $300 million in physical damage. Aymond has allowed several churches to re-open for special occasions. The Diocese of Austin web site states that under his bishopric the number of seminarians increased threefold. Introduction of the Roman Missal, third edition Aymond, while serving as chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Divine Worship, announced on June 17, 2011, that beginning in September 2011, diocesan bishops may permit the gradual introduction of the musical settings of the people's parts of the Mass that are sung from the new translation of the Roman Missal. Primarily, this affects the Gloria, the Holy, Holy, Holy, and the different Memorial Acclamations. This variation to the implementation of the Roman Missal third edition, set to take place definitively on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011, was authorized by the conference's president, Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan of New York. Opinions and attitudes Leadership style Bruce Nolan of the Times-Picayune describes Aymond as a "quiet pragmatist who prefers to promote Catholic values in and out of his church without the public confrontations some colleagues willingly accept." A June 16, 2009 editorial in the Times-Picayune praised as "a promising way to begin" Aymond's willingness to listen to his new flock. Aymond has a reputation for taking on controversial issues in a direct and vocal way. He has called the confrontations a necessary part of being a bishop. "I don't feel I have a responsibility or an obligation to make people do what the church says", he said in 2008. "In fact, I think that would be wrong. But I do have an obligation to say, 'This is what the church's teaching is. Abortion and contraception Aymond was one of more than 80 American bishops who wrote to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, to protest its award of an honorary degree to President Barack Obama due to his support of abortion rights for women and embryonic stem cell research. In October 2007, Aymond objected to the scheduled appearance of dissident Catholic theologian Reverend Charles Curran at St. Edward University in South Austin. Curran is a priest