Defaced Baby Jesus Statue Gets a New Head. Not Everyone Is Pleased

A terracotta head added to a vandalized statue of baby Jesus in Canada has sparked ridicule, with some likening the replacement to Maggie Simpson.

A white stone statue of Mary and baby Jesus outside Ste. Anne des Pins Catholic church in Sudbury, northern Ontario, has been the victim of vandals for close to a decade. Local artist Heather Wise offered to fix the statue after its the head of baby Jesus was knocked-off and stolen in 2015.

Wise, who had never worked with stone, told Sudbury.Com that she was “sad” to see what happened to the statue. She was granted permission by Father Gerard Lajeunesse, who works at the church, to create a clay replacement and aims to make a permanent stone head by 2017.

Pictures of the new head quickly went viral on social media, with some comparing it to the botched restoration of Jesus Christ in Spain or to the cartoon character Maggie Simpson:

Lajeunesse told CBC News that local parishioners have expressed shock, disappointment and surprise with the new head. “It’s a first try. It’s a first go. And hopefully what is done at the end will please everyone,” he told CBS News. “I wasn’t trained for this in seminary.”

[Sudbury.com, CBC]