Church of the Mediator: a sanctuary for all

Thank you for your recent article, “To save sanctuary, church will sell land.” As a faith-rooted Bronx advocate, I am encouraged to see that the sanctuary of the Church of the Mediator is on the path to being preserved. For the past year, the Church of the Mediator has provided a temporary home for our congregation, and through that hospitality, it has become an extension of our Christ-centered family.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to meet with preservationist Stephen Byrns and tour the restoration work he completed at Untermyer Gardens. The transformation there was remarkable, and it is inspiring to know that he is now lending his expertise, relationships, and vision toward securing the future of the Mediator. In witnessing renewed attention and local support for this restoration effort, I became interested in better understanding how the church arrived at this pivotal moment. For many in the congregation, the energy around restoration seems like a long-awaited answer to prayer.

In a 2008 article published in The Riverdale Press, the late Rev. Diego Delgado-Miller articulated a vision for the Church of the Mediator that now feels especially relevant. He sought to bring together English-speaking and Spanish-speaking worshippers—two communities that had historically worshipped separately—and hoped to cultivate a unified spiritual family. He also understood the church to be not only a place of worship but a work of architectural and cultural significance, and he resisted proposals to demolish the building and replace it with a smaller structure. Instead, he advocated for preserving what already stood, believing that the integrity of the sanctuary was central to the community’s identity.

Rev. Delgado-Miller also believed that the church was meant to be more than a worship space; it once served as a vital community anchor—offering youth programs, support services, and spaces for education and artistic expression. Many of these initiatives are no longer active, perhaps due in part to the physical deterioration of the building. Yet his conviction was that such service was inseparable from prayer and worship, and that true restoration should lead toward spiritual renewal. In this sense, the current effort led in part by Stephen Byrns to save and restore the sanctuary offers renewed hope that these essential community services may again find life within its walls. In that vision, preservation is not only structural, but deeply communal and spiritual.

Taken together, Rev. Delgado-Miller envisioned a united, bilingual congregation rooted in service, revived in spirit, and strengthened by the physical preservation of its sacred space. His legacy continued through leaders such as Dr. Rufus Sadler, who held onto that hope even during difficult years and whose optimism now seems to be taking shape in reality.

I also uplift the words shared by Bishop Andrew Dietsche regarding Rev. Delgado-Miller's ministry: that the calling is to make every effort to become a church that not only ministers to the urban poor, but is also of the poor. That vision speaks deeply to the heart of Kingsbridge and to those who have relied on this sanctuary as a source of dignity, belonging, and spiritual refuge.

As this restoration unfolds, I remain grateful for the calling embraced by Stephen Byrns in helping the Kingsbridge community move toward renewal. May this hopeful work strengthen Father Luis Enrique Gomez, the vestry, the congregation, and the wider Kingsbridge neighborhood as this sanctuary enters a new chapter.

Josue Cordones