A close bond has developed between Butters and Father Maxi. When the town finds the church doors locked and no sign of the pair, they call in the Catholic Church.
This work contains examples of:
- An Aesop: Stay true to your faith, no matter how hard it can be at times with those around you.
- Asshole Victim: For covering up scandals of past pedophiliac priests, the members of the Church that Father Maxi runs over deserve absolutely zero sympathy, especially when it was implied that the new priest that would replace him would be a pedophile like the rest of them.
- Big Damn Heroes: Father Maxi runs over the three priests who kidnapped and were planning to kill Butters, Clyde, and Stan.
- Birthday Episode: Downplayed that while the events of this episode did happen on Clyde's birthday, his birthday party was not the focus.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with the adults making pedophile jokes at Father Maxi's expense.
- The Bus Came Back: Father Maxi returns after his last appearance in Season 20.
- Call-Back: Clyde previously said Butters was invited to his birthday party, which plays an important role here.
- Cleanup Crew: The Catholic Church has one that disposes of any criminal evidence left behind by their priests.
- Cliffhanger Copout: The only payoff we get to Stan being shot is his arm being in a sling. Stan doesn't even care. This is perfectly in character for Stan and most other South Park residents though.
- Continuity Nod:
- Stan's arm is in a sling after being shot the previous episode.
- Father Maxi mentions the time he went to the Vatican to try and speak out against the church’s rampant pedophilia.
- Hypocrite: Randy is the first to crack a joke at Father Maxi's expense, but when Stan (who isn't so amused) called their time in church that day "stupid", Randy tells him not to say those kind of things unless he wants to go to Hell.
- I Choose to Stay: Father Maxi is ready to leave for a new town, until the clean-up crew talks about a possible replacement. Maxi then prefers to stay in South Park out of fear the Church would replace him with someone that actually would prey on children.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Father Maxi and Butters form this.
- It's All My Fault: Despite not actually engaging in pedophilic activities, Father Maxi blames himself for being unable to do anything about other priests molesting children.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Exploited. The adults make a pedophile joke at everything Father Maxi says, and it's implied that it's the main reason they're so enthusiastic to go to church in the first place.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The town calling the priests association nearly gets Stan, Butters, and Clyde killed to hush up their supposed abuse.
- Not What It Looks Like: All the other adults cast accusing glares at Father Maxi when he's hanging out with the children.
- Only Sane Man: As before, Father Maxi is portrayed as this in comparison to the rest of the Church.
- Overly Long Gag: Zigzagged In-Universe, all the kids think the pedophile jokes have gone on too long, while the adults still think they're funny.
- Pet the Dog: Butters showing Father Maxi compassion and friendship.
- Sequel Episode: To "Red Hot Catholic Love" which aired sixteen years before this episode did.
- Shout-Out: Butters' speech to Father Maxi in the beginning is a reference to Brandon Straka's Walk Away movement.
- Take That!: Towards jokes about priests being pedophiles being overused to a pulp. Also towards people who cover up for sexual abusers.
