The Ro­man Catholic com­mu­ni­ty is mourn­ing the death of a priest who col­lapsed and died while con­duct­ing Mass yes­ter­day.

Mon­sign­or Ken­neth Spence, who had 41 years of ser­vice, fell down dur­ing wor­ship at St There­sa’s RC Church, Wood­brook.

He was rushed to the St Clair Med­ical Cen­tre but died at 1.15 pm.

Spence, who was the priest of Mon Re­pos RC Church (Parish of St Joseph and Ste Madeleine), be­gan his ca­reer in June 1984 and served in sev­er­al parish­es across the Arch­dio­cese of Port-of-Spain and Scar­bor­ough, To­ba­go.

Up­on learn­ing of his death, parish­ioners of Mon Re­pos RC Church shared their ex­pe­ri­ences with the priest and sent on­do­lences to his loved ones.

One mem­ber of his church said Mon­sign­or Spence was al­ways kind, com­pas­sion­ate, soft spo­ken, and fun­ny.

The wor­ship­per, who asked to re­main anony­mous, said his ser­mons were al­ways filled with wis­dom and spir­i­tu­al nuggets.

An­oth­er parish­ioner said Sun­days at Mon Re­pos RC Church will not be the same, es­pe­cial­ly for the chil­dren.

Parish­ioner An­tho­ny Alexan­der de­scribed Spence as a beau­ti­ful priest and hu­man be­ing.

“Some­one who has to­tal com­mit­ment and ded­i­ca­tion up un­til his pass­ing, a true son of the soil and ser­vant of God and his church.”

Guardian Me­dia un­der­stands that Mon­sign­or Spence was cel­e­brat­ing a spe­cial mass at the church for a cou­ple mark­ing their di­a­mond wed­ding an­niver­sary, when he col­lapsed near the al­tar.

Yes­ter­day, parish­ioners prayed the Of­fice of the Dead, said for the re­pose of Spence’s soul, at the Christ the King RC Church, Les Ef­forts, San Fer­nan­do, which was fol­lowed by a Mass.