NEWCASTLE – Given the latest news from the Vatican, we thought it only appropriate to tell you a story about the oldest continuously operating Catholic church in New England. It’s right here in Maine.

The oldest surviving Catholic Church in New England is not in Boston, but here in Newcastle, Maine, where the St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church was built in 1808 by the many Irish Catholic families who had come to work in the area’s shipbuilding business.

The original bell, cast by Paul Revere himself, still rings. If you want to visit head to Academy Hill Road; daily dawn to dusk; 207-563-3240.