The heads and hands of Mary and the baby Jesus are now missing from a statue outside Sainte-Anne des Pins Roman Catholic Church in downtown Sudbury.
The statue last made headlines last July when the head of the baby Jesus was reported missing, which Sainte-Anne Des Pins parish council president Michel Chrétien said at the time accompanied various other acts of vandalism at their property.
“The problem is not going away and it seems to be increasing year by year,” Chretien said last year — something he reiterated to Sudbury.com earlier today in response to continued concerns.
In late May, Mary joined her son, facing beheading along with additional damages.
“I don’t know if the statue itself can be saved right now,” Chretien said. “There were so many problems with this statue.”
The two heads are in the possession of the church along with the other broken pieces, minus some fragments.
“It’s an ongoing story, an ongoing problem with vandalism with the church and not just the church, but the whole center,” Chretien said, clarifying that he did not believe the church was targeted but that it was tied to the broader issues facing the central part of the city is facing.
Chretien doesn’t want the community to draw a line between the city’s homeless community and the damage to the church, citing it as unfair due to the fact that it is not known who is responsible.
People steal or damage “whatever they can get their hands on … that’s small enough to move or break,” he said. Their air conditioning units were also damaged along with other components of the building’s exterior.
“We’re always looking at different ideas to secure the grounds, secure the buildings, so we’re looking into the idea of possibly putting up a fence or repairing the fence we already have around the grounds, but that’s quite expensive,” Chretien said.
Additional fencing, he added, would be a last resort.
“It’s kind of sad that it has to come to this, but we may not have a choice.”
The statue of Mary and the baby Jesus attracted international attention in 2016 after the baby Jesus’ head was cut off by a vandal the previous year and replaced with a temporary head by a local artist. The attention came as a result of the appearance of the head, which was criticized for its color difference from the rest of the statue and its features.
By October 2016, the missing head was returned. It was reattached to the statue the following year.
The age of the statue is unknown, Chretien said, as it was brought from another church when the current building opened in 1996.
Tyler Clark covers city hall and political issues for Sudbury.com.
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