Religious persons in the Catholic Church should first become disciples of Jesus before trying to make others His followers, says former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph.

“Becoming a disciple of Jesus is a difficult task whereas becoming a devotee is easy. Our call as religious is to become disciples and make people disciples of Jesus,’ Justice Joseph told the general plenary assembly of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, India’s first indigenous religious congregation for men.

The January 4-8 assembly, now underway at Jerusalem Retreat Centre, Thrissur, is expected to evaluate the relevance and impact of the 187-year-old congregation’s ministries and revisit its vision and orientation for the next ten years.