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Turned Around: Replying to Common Objections Against the Traditional Latin Mass
In this often surprising book, Dr. Kwasniewski takes nine objections Catholics make to the traditional Latin Mass, and turns them around in a jiu jitsu “You are right—but you don’t realize how right you are!”
To the objection that “the priest has his back to me. I can’t engage with him,” he “Yes, he does, and no, you can’t—that’s exactly how it should be, and here’s why.” Or “at Mass the priest is doing everything and I’m just watching him”: “Yes, he alone does everything in his proper priestly way, and that makes it possible for you to do everything in the way proper to you.” “It’s all fancy, like a royal court, which doesn’t fit with a democratic society like ours”: “That’s right, because we are in a royal court, the most royal and most courtly of all, and we have left democracy far behind.”
And so with six additional objections, having to do
the use of Latinkneeling to receive Communion on the tonguerepetition in prayers, gestures, and readingsthe “limits” of the one-year lectionaryfixed rituals governed by strict rubricsthe importance of not understanding everything, even after long exposure has opened one door after the next.By turning the tables around, Dr. Kwasniewski helps us to savor the Holy Spirit’s wisdom in forming over the centuries this venerable rite for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—the way that countless saints prayed the Mass day in and day out—and shows how we, too, stand to gain from its peculiar non-modern, even anti-modern features. Ultimately this tradition guides us to deeper the turning-around to God that is the most important of all conversions.
Dr. Kwasniewski’s Turned Replying to Common Objections Against the Traditional Latin Mass transforms challenges into gateways, perplexities into fresh insights, brick walls into garden paths. See why it is exactly the paradoxical and countercultural aspects of the Latin Mass that powerfully draw increasing numbers of the faithful, young and old, to this mysterious and luminous rite of divine worship.
To the objection that “the priest has his back to me. I can’t engage with him,” he “Yes, he does, and no, you can’t—that’s exactly how it should be, and here’s why.” Or “at Mass the priest is doing everything and I’m just watching him”: “Yes, he alone does everything in his proper priestly way, and that makes it possible for you to do everything in the way proper to you.” “It’s all fancy, like a royal court, which doesn’t fit with a democratic society like ours”: “That’s right, because we are in a royal court, the most royal and most courtly of all, and we have left democracy far behind.”
And so with six additional objections, having to do
the use of Latinkneeling to receive Communion on the tonguerepetition in prayers, gestures, and readingsthe “limits” of the one-year lectionaryfixed rituals governed by strict rubricsthe importance of not understanding everything, even after long exposure has opened one door after the next.By turning the tables around, Dr. Kwasniewski helps us to savor the Holy Spirit’s wisdom in forming over the centuries this venerable rite for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—the way that countless saints prayed the Mass day in and day out—and shows how we, too, stand to gain from its peculiar non-modern, even anti-modern features. Ultimately this tradition guides us to deeper the turning-around to God that is the most important of all conversions.
Dr. Kwasniewski’s Turned Replying to Common Objections Against the Traditional Latin Mass transforms challenges into gateways, perplexities into fresh insights, brick walls into garden paths. See why it is exactly the paradoxical and countercultural aspects of the Latin Mass that powerfully draw increasing numbers of the faithful, young and old, to this mysterious and luminous rite of divine worship.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published October 8, 2024
28 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Peter Kwasniewski
57 books82 followersDr. Peter A. Kwasniewski holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Thomas Aquinas College in California and an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
After teaching at the International Theological Institute in Austria and for the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Austrian Program, he joined the founding team of Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming, where he currently serves as Professor of Theology and Choirmaster. He is a board member and scholar of The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, which is publishing the Opera Omnia of the Angelic Doctor, and a tutor for the Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies.
Kwasniewski has taught and written extensively on a wide variety of subjects, especially Thomistic thought, sacramental and liturgical theology, the history and aesthetics of music, and the social doctrine of the Church. He has published two books with The Catholic University of America Press and a volume of music for liturgical use, Sacred Choral Works (Corpus Christi Watershed, 2014). His latest book, Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis: Sacred Liturgy, the Traditional Latin Mass, and Renewal in the Church (Angelico Press, 2014), is being translated into eight languages.
Dr. Kwasniewski writes for several major weblogs, including New Liturgical Movement and Rorate Caeli.
After teaching at the International Theological Institute in Austria and for the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Austrian Program, he joined the founding team of Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming, where he currently serves as Professor of Theology and Choirmaster. He is a board member and scholar of The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, which is publishing the Opera Omnia of the Angelic Doctor, and a tutor for the Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies.
Kwasniewski has taught and written extensively on a wide variety of subjects, especially Thomistic thought, sacramental and liturgical theology, the history and aesthetics of music, and the social doctrine of the Church. He has published two books with The Catholic University of America Press and a volume of music for liturgical use, Sacred Choral Works (Corpus Christi Watershed, 2014). His latest book, Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis: Sacred Liturgy, the Traditional Latin Mass, and Renewal in the Church (Angelico Press, 2014), is being translated into eight languages.
Dr. Kwasniewski writes for several major weblogs, including New Liturgical Movement and Rorate Caeli.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 11, 2025
Although it is an amazing book, I feel like this is a condensed version of the author's older work, "The Once and Future Roman Rite".
February 27, 2025
I have been a follower of Dr. Zwasniewski for some time now, reading in particle his articles on the New Liturgical Movement. This is the first full-length book I have read from the author.
Turned Around is a comprehensive examination and rebuttal of the leading arguments against the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) that had been the normative form of worship in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church between 1570 and 1969. Zwasniewski is able to successfully parry each critique of the (TLM), offering counter-points from the Church Fathers, leading theologians, and some of his own theological philosophy. Dr. Zwasniewski takes excellent care to point that much of the liturgical planners during Vatican II and the following draft of Sacrosanctum Concilium were operating on faulty assumptions about the meaning and practice of divine worship.
He remains professional and academic throughout the work while demonstrating a strong passion and expertise for the subject. You will not find conspiracy theories here, nor will you find any blame or accusations for why the quality of our Catholic liturgy changed over these past 50 years.
The largest downside of this book is that it has given me a sort of disdain for the "Novus Ordo" Mass.
Turned Around is a comprehensive examination and rebuttal of the leading arguments against the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) that had been the normative form of worship in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church between 1570 and 1969. Zwasniewski is able to successfully parry each critique of the (TLM), offering counter-points from the Church Fathers, leading theologians, and some of his own theological philosophy. Dr. Zwasniewski takes excellent care to point that much of the liturgical planners during Vatican II and the following draft of Sacrosanctum Concilium were operating on faulty assumptions about the meaning and practice of divine worship.
He remains professional and academic throughout the work while demonstrating a strong passion and expertise for the subject. You will not find conspiracy theories here, nor will you find any blame or accusations for why the quality of our Catholic liturgy changed over these past 50 years.
The largest downside of this book is that it has given me a sort of disdain for the "Novus Ordo" Mass.
April 14, 2025
This was my first Dr. Peter Kwasniewski read and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Turned Around is a must read for traditional catholics. It's a fantastic reference book to defend the Traditonal Latin Mass against those that have a problem or oppose it in anyway shape or form. I've been going to the Traditional Latin Mass for three years, so I'm a bit of a newcomer but I have come to really LOVE Catholicism because of it! What attracts me most to the TLM is that it is God-centered, whereas the Novus Ordo is man-centered. Since going to the TLM i've learned more about the lives of the saints, I fast on ember days, I joined the Third Order at my SSPX chapel, I pray the Divine Office, I listen to thought-provoking sermons and I regularly pray the rosary! I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for the Traditional Latin Mass coming into my life when it did!
April 12, 2025
the audience that should read this book is the sort of person who thinks we just need a "more reverent" novus ordo.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews