Parishioners at St. François Xavier Roman Catholic Parish arrived to a nasty surprise Sunday morning, discovering vandals had hit their church.

There is widespread damage within the historic church -- several statues have been destroyed, their heads smashed into pieces.

A statue of St. François-Xavier was left intact, but a cross in his hand was removed and badly damaged. It appears the vandals also grabbed the church’s fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over.

Long-time parishioner Eugene Bernardin tells CTV News the damage is completely senseless.

But he says the parish will not allow this act of vandalism to prevent them from going forward. He says they’ll just have to clean up and keep on going.

Manitoba RCMP said they are investigating.