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April 10, 2025 41 mins

This is the first chapter in a four-part series about church closures in America.


Lorraine Pacheco is the caretaker for a tiny church in an even tinier town in the eastern plains of New Mexico. As she gets older and her congregation shrinks, she’s starting to wonder if it will survive after she’s gone.


The Final Service is written and produced by Mateo Schimpf with additional writing and reporting from Ray Suarez. It's edited by Jarrod Sport with production support from Elize Manoukian, Sienna Barnes and Joshua Dudley. It's made possible with generous support by the Henry Luce Foundation and is distributed by PRX.

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