Baby Jesus’ second coming shocks and surprises flock
The terracotta baby jesus head disappointing Canadian churchgoers. Photo: CBC News
Canadian churchgoers have had their prayers answered with a decapitated baby jesus statue receiving a new head – but the second coming wasn’t quite what they imagined.
The head of the pearly white statue — which went missing a year ago from the courtyard of a church in Ontario, Canada — has been replaced by a terracotta sculpture.
And even the priest of the church said the clay-coloured addition is an eyesore.
“It really is shocking to the eyes because of the big contrast in colour,” the church’s priest Gerard Lajeunesse told CBC News.
Mr Lajeunesse said it wasn’t the first time baby Jesus had been vandalised and believes the statue head was stolen.
“It’s always Jesus’ head that goes missing. Probably because it’s smaller and easier to break off,” he said.
“You wonder, if we do replace it with a new one, will we be up against the same situation?” Lajeunesse said, noting the head’s reputation for going missing.
The church went to several businesses to see if a replacement head could be built but with no luck.
That’s when local artist Heather Wise came to the rescue.
“She was quite upset about it and she offered to do something if she could,” the priest said.
A close up of baby Jesus’ head replacement. Photo: CBC News
Replacing the entire statue was expected to cost the church between between $6000 and $10,000, according to CBC.
Mr Lajeunesse said many parishioners were hurt, surprised and disappointed by the new head.
Fortunately for those people, the clay replacement isn’t expected to last long.
“It’s a first try. It’s a first go. And hopefully what is done at the end will please everyone,”Mr Lajeunesse said.
“I don’t expect it to last long. She (Ms Wise) plans on sculpting in stone some time next year.
“I wasn’t trained for this in seminary.”