The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star/References

References/Trivia

Season 16 Episode References

←

355

356
"The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star"

357

Cultural references[edit]

The title is a reference to the Catholic phrase: In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The Ministry Machine is an obvious parody of the Mystery Machine, from Scooby Doo.
The ragtime music playing during the montage of Homer and Bart at the catholic school is the "Maple Leaf Rag," a public-domain ragtime piano piece composed by Scott Joplin in 1899.
After Bart speaks Latin at the dinner table, Lisa states that Latin is Plutarch's language. However, Plutarch was a Greek who wrote in Greek during the Roman Empire.
- Homer mistakes Plutarch for Mickey Mouse's dog Pluto.
The Bart's song "Don't Have A Cow, Man" is a parody of Israeli folk Jewish song "Hava Nagila".
When everyone in Catholic Heaven lines up to recreate Riverdance the two men next to Homer are wearing sweatshirts from University of Notre Dame and Boston College.

The statue plaque reads: "St. Jerome. He died for our sins. Now it's your turn."
It is made clear in this episode that most of the main characters in Springfield are Protestants, who attend Rev. Lovejoy's church. The episode does give some insight into who are the (probable) Roman Catholics in Springfield. At the church's pancake dinner one can spot: Bumblebee Man (Mexican); Mayor Quimby (Irish); Luigi Risotto and two members of Fat Tony's crew (Italian). Fat Tony is sitting at a different table as his fellow mafiosos.
This episode was nominated for the 2006 WGA Award (TV) for Animation.
Originally scheduled to air April 10, 2005. It was pulled due to the death of Pope John Paul II the previous week.
Homer confessed that he wiped a booger on Father Sean's shirt, he made a dog and a cat kiss, he swiped a bolted-down TV from a Holiday Inn, he coveted the wife in Jaws II, he lied to a waiter, and he had masturbated eight billion times and had no plans to stop masturbating in the future.
Jaws 3-D (also titled Jaws III) was theatrically released on July 22, 1983, but the movie does not have a "wife" character.
The Stuckey's waitress is the same design character as the roadside diner waitress in this same season's "Maximum Homerdrive" episode.

This is the third time a Simpson family member attempts to convert to a new religion and Marge, Ned, and Reverend Lovejoy attempt to bring that family member back. The previous episodes were "The Joy of Sect" and "She of Little Faith".
This is the second time in the series that Bart is expelled from school since the episode "Whacking Day".
Bart mentions Do the Bartman ("Do the Bartman" and "Simpson Tide").
Some followers of Bart as a prophet from 1000 years later are dressed like Bartman ("Three Men and a Comic Book").

In the opening classroom scene, Nina Skalka has no bows in her braids.
In one scene in Catholic Heaven, Homer is missing his halo.
In this episode, it is stated that it took Marge five years to toilet-train Bart. But in the episode "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", he was about two before he was toilet trained.
Frank Ormand is seen at the pancake dinner despite being dead.
Lisa states that Latin is Plutarch's language. However, Plutarch was a Greek who wrote in Greek during the Roman Empire.
Michael Flatley of Riverdance in Catholic Heaven speaks in an Irish accent while Michael Flatley was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in Chicago, Illinois.

← Season 15 Season 16 References Season 17 →
Treehouse of Horror XV • All's Fair in Oven War • Sleeping with the Enemy • She Used to Be My Girl • Fat Man and Little Boy • Midnight Rx • Mommie Beerest • Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass • Pranksta Rap • There's Something About Marrying • On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister • Goo Goo Gai Pan • Mobile Homer • The Seven-Beer Snitch • Future-Drama • Don't Fear the Roofer • The Heartbroke Kid • A Star Is Torn • Thank God It's Doomsday • Home Away from Homer • The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star