Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On November 15, 2013, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, appointed rev. Fr. Frans De Ridder, CICM (Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Missionaries of Scheut) as National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in Taiwan.
The new National Director of the PMS was born in Belgium April 25, 1940. He professed his first vows on September 8, 1959. He was ordained a priest on August 2, 1964. In 1965 he was sent as a missionary in Taiwan, where he remained until 1981 and carried out various pastoral and academic roles: Professor at the minor Seminary of Taichung, Pastor of the St. Therese Shrine in Wanhua. In 1981 he was transferred to Singapore, where he worked in the Mandarin apostolate serving in the archdiocese. He also chaired the Commission for Missionary Activity. On 1 January 2010 he was elected Provincial Superior of the CICM Sino-Mongolian Province and then returned to Taipei. At the end of his term, December 31, 2012, he began his service as a parish priest in Wanhua. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 15/05/2014)
