Fr. Emmanuel Asi received his religious training at the Christ the King Seminary (Pakistan) and was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore in 1974. He obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome. Among his many appointments he has served as Rector of the Christ the King Seminary.[1]
Fr. Asi is a founding member of Maktaba-e-Anaveem Pakistan [Theological Institute for Laity] and a famous local theologian of Pakistan.[2]
Father Asi became the first Catholic to receive the David Penman Award for Christian literature. Bishop Azad Marshall of the Church of Pakistan presented the award to Father Asi on October 28, 1999, at St. Andrew's Church in Lahore. Father Asi has written more than 30 books in Urdu, on Third World theology, Christian marriage and other religious topics.[3]
He is Secretary of the Catholic Bible Commission of Pakistan and a Board Member of the Theological Institute for Laity [4] The Institute has spent 20 years teaching theology to ordinary people in a country where only 2% of the population is Christian.[5]
He became Parish Priest of St. Anthony's Church, Lahore in 2000.[6] Since 2002 he has also been a professor at St. Francis Xavier Seminary.[7] He is currently Parish Priest of at St. John's Church, Youhanabad, Pakistan, 270 kilometers southwest of Islamabad.[8] He attended a Vocational Seminar at Maktaba-e-Anaveem Pakistan [Theological Institute for Laity] on 15 July, 2010.