Early last month, I received a direct message from a friend of mine, alerting me that Lydia Sadler had suffered a traumatic asthma attack, resulting in complications that put her on life support at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in northern Manhattan. Several days later on Feb. 12, the follow-up message relayed the catastrophic news: Lydia had died, selflessly donating her organs for the furtherance of someone else’s life.

 

That following Sunday, I attended Mass in Kingsbridge, The Bronx, at the historic Church of the Mediator, the sanctuary where Lydia had been a senior member of the Vestry. I didn’t attend often, mostly on holidays or for special events, but as a lover of sacred spaces and historical preservation, I had become friends with several members of the congregation and upon reflection, Lydia was the first.

 

She called me several years ago because she heard I had been involved in historical preservation. She asked me if I had any suggestions. As I had never actually saved anything at that point, just attempted to preserve a portion of a historical legacy, I’m not sure the suggestions I gave were of much use. But we stayed friends, and I did my best to promote events at the Mediator on social media, and to educate the public about its glorious history as the “Little Cathedral of the Bronx”.

 

After Mass, it became clear that Lydia’s loss had left the congregation inconsolable. Lydia had fought long and hard to preserve the Mediator because she, like the remaining congregants, understood and appreciated it as not just a historical landmark, but as a spiritual sanctuary.

 

Besides her role as a Vestry member, Lydia served as the cross bearer each Sunday, the master of ceremonies for holiday concerts, the Girl Scout troop leader, and an organizer of an endless multitude of community activities relating to the preservation of the Mediator, and support for the surrounding working class, largely immigrant community. She was a true leader at the church, and of its extended community.

 

Every time I attended Mass or an event at the Mediator, Lydia would proudly glide down the aisle to the altar, in her white robe and turban. She was clearly a woman of immense spiritual faith and dignity, and was so proud to live and honor her faith in such an immensely beautiful setting, among her friends, family, and neighbors who shared that faith and vision.

I’m unclear what the future holds for the Church of the Mediator. In 2022, the financially strapped congregation committed to a redevelopment study which may result in the demolition of the 115-year-old building, born from a 168-year-old, continuous congregation. I know that Lydia had come to terms with the possibility that the Mediator could be no more. The property on which it rests is likely to become so-called “affordable housing” and its existence forgotten by future generations.

 

But as I witnessed Lydia carrying the cross down the church’s center aisle at a prior Mass, I felt that even if she had maturely come to terms with its likely demise, no storefront church-like structure in the form of affordable housing could adequately replace the spiritual sanctuary of the “Little Cathedral of the Bronx” for Lydia, its congregation, or the community at large.

 

I am bereft at the loss of Lydia Sadler, one of the most fervent champions of the Church of the Mediator. I thank her, and will miss her deeply.

 

Lydia’s family is hosting a memorial service to celebrate her life and legacy at the Church of the Mediator on Saturday, March 29, from 11 a.m. to 12.30. They welcome the public to the service and reception.

 

The Church of the Mediator is located at 260 West 231st Street, Bronx, NY 10463.

 

Stephanie Coggins is a community activist in the northwest Bronx, a board member of The Kingsbridge Historical Society, and an administrator of two Facebook groups relating to community, culture, and voter issues.