Alfred was proud of his...
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Alfred was proud of his church. After all, his great-great-grandfather had donated the land on which the church was built. He'd paid for a large part of the building, too. His great-grandfather had donated all of the stained-glass windows and his grandfather had donated the pipe organ. Now, Alfred and his father were following in the family footsteps. They were in the process of financing 80 percent of the new Christian Education Centre. If the truth were known, Alfred was more than proud of his church; he thought he owned it and he wasn't afraid to let others know it. Like his grandfathers before him, Alfred was loud with his opinions. Like his grandfathers before him, Alfred was against his church sending benevolence, supporting overseas missions and even supporting the needy in his own community. At every congregational meeting, Alfred would get up and say something like, "This church is here because my great-great-grandfather wasn't afraid of a little hard work. No one gave him anything. So why should we give money to anyone either? Let them make their own money just the way my family has." What was worse, no one had the courage to disagree with him. "That's just Alfred," they'd say. "His father and his grandfathers were like that, too. He'll never change."
--Conroy
--Conroy
