Baby Jesus' New Head Is a Bit 'Shocking'

But fear not, it's only temporary
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2016 11:42 AM CDT

Whenever the head of the baby Jesus statue in an Ontario churchyard previously got vandalized and knocked off, it was always found nearby and reattached. But when it happened last October, the head was nowhere to be found—and with a replacement statue of the baby being held by Mary estimated to cost between $6,000 and $10,000, priest Gerard Lajeunesse didn't think the statue would get a revamp this time around, CBC News reports. That's when Heather Wise, a local artist who noticed the decapitated statue, stepped forward to offer her services to Anne des Pins church, reports Sudbury.com. For now, she has created a reddish-orange terra-cotta replacement noggin, and it's causing a whole lot of double-takes.

"It really is shocking to the eyes because of the big contrast in color," Lajeunesse muses to the CBC, noting that the head is just "temporary" until a stone head can be acquired. That needs to be soon, as the clay head is already eroding from being exposed to the elements. Still, despite the complaints about baby Jesus' makeover—the Guardian notes comparisons to Maggie Simpson—Lajeunesse says he's grateful to Wise, who hopes to offer a permanent stone replacement by the spring. "It's a first try. … And hopefully what is done at the end will please everyone," he tells the CBC, adding, "I wasn't trained for this in seminary." (No one wanted this "homeless Jesus" sculpture.)

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