An amateur sculptor who tried to restore a decapitated statue of the baby Jesus has been panned after her work left the son of god looking more like Lisa Simpson.

Local artist and amateur sculptor Heather Wise offered to step in to help after the statue in her Canadian town of Sudbury was damaged by vandals.

But her creation has prompted outrage from parishioners - and worldwide mockery.

Even the church's priest Gérard Lajeunesse admitted that the restoration work is "shocking to the eyes" and has not been an unqualified success.

"I wasn't trained for this in seminary," he told CBC News.

Mr Lajeunesse said that Jesus' head was presumed to have been taken by vandals, and he had been quoted up to $10,000 to get a replacement.

At that point Mr Wise stepped in - and despite admitting that she had no formal training in sculpting the priest said he had been hopeful she could help.

"I'm a pretty optimistic guy," he told the local news site Sudbury.com.

He admitted that her first attempt at a temporary replacement has not gone down well with parishioners.

But he said he was hopeful that a second attempt at a more permanent replacement would be more successful.

Meanwhile Ms Wise said she will seek advice before embarking on a second attempt at the head but insisted that she is "thrilled" and looking forward to installing her final artwork.

"To do a statue of baby Jesus for a church is like an honour of my entire art career," she said.