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Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed
The Mass of Paul VI is so deeply flawed that it cannot be repaired from within, whether by copious helpings of smells and bells, by arbitrary attempts at traditionalizing, or by an official “reform of the reform”; and the Roman Mass inherited from the Age of Faith did not (and does not) need to be “reformed” along antiquarian or pastoral-utilitarian lines, as it fulfills the highest act of religion in a fitting manner perfected over many centuries of prayerful practice. The liturgical revolution, driven by ideology, culminated in balkanization, banality, and boredom; its fabrications must be retired from use, and the traditional rite must be restored to its rightful place of honor in the Church of the Latin rite.
Such are the bold claims defended in Close the Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed, in which Peter Kwasniewski refutes the reformers’ own case for reforming the old rite and illustrates the subtle dangers to which clergy and laity are exposed by attempts at “doing the new rite reverently.” Simultaneously he reminds traditionalists that they should aspire to the noblest possible celebration of the Mass, always faithfully observing the rubrics and resisting bad habits that interfere with the rite’s full splendor and unseemly haste, minimalism, ineptitude, and the itch for pastoral experimentation.
If the Catholic Church in the West is ever to recover her internal soundness and external cultural influence, her shepherds and her flocks must let the ill-advised Council of the 1960s and the Bauhaus liturgy cobbled together in its name lapse into obsolescence, so that the perennially fresh theology of the Council of Trent and the immortally beautiful liturgy of the Roman Church may once again flourish unfettered.
Such are the bold claims defended in Close the Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed, in which Peter Kwasniewski refutes the reformers’ own case for reforming the old rite and illustrates the subtle dangers to which clergy and laity are exposed by attempts at “doing the new rite reverently.” Simultaneously he reminds traditionalists that they should aspire to the noblest possible celebration of the Mass, always faithfully observing the rubrics and resisting bad habits that interfere with the rite’s full splendor and unseemly haste, minimalism, ineptitude, and the itch for pastoral experimentation.
If the Catholic Church in the West is ever to recover her internal soundness and external cultural influence, her shepherds and her flocks must let the ill-advised Council of the 1960s and the Bauhaus liturgy cobbled together in its name lapse into obsolescence, so that the perennially fresh theology of the Council of Trent and the immortally beautiful liturgy of the Roman Church may once again flourish unfettered.
458 pages, Paperback
Published February 25, 2025
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May 3, 2025
The Only Way Forward… Is Back
I knew this was going to be my kind of book when I found myself nodding with agreement at the Foreword…
While I used to be an avid reader (or a bookworm, as my Mom would put it), I fell out of the habit of reading during the last few years. These days, it generally takes a very engaging plot to get the urge to read to arise naturally in me. This was not a work of fiction, yet, once I got into “Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed” I was – to use the modern expression – hooked.
In this book, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski makes two cases: why – as the title states – “the New Mass can’t be fixed,” and why the TLM is the only path if the Church is to move forward. The amount of work put into this book is evident from the start. Dr. Kwasniewski makes both cases with a painstaking amount of clarity, evidence, even sometimes humor(!), and clear-cut arguments that address any and all objections or questions that may arise in the reader’s mind (I know, because I had a few questions myself!).
For the first eleven years of my life, the only rite of the Mass I ever knew was the Novus Ordo. When I was fourteen, my family started attending the TLM almost exclusively (I say “almost exclusively” because we attend it as much as our situation – slightly more than an hour away from the parish – allows). Looking back, I see that, even if I lived through those years of my life at the Novus Ordo, my faith suffered through them. It is because of this that I am deeply thankful to Dr. Kwasniewski for his work in exposing the errors behind the New Rite and the logic used by its defenders, as well as his work in the traditional movement.
I must highlight one of the chapters in this book that was one of the most fun and insightful to read for me: “Allegory as a Key to Understanding Traditional Liturgy.” This chapter opened my eyes to many of the symbolic elements of the traditional Mass that I had not noticed or “read through” yet, such as the reason behind why the priest sits at the Gloria and Credo at a Sung or Solemn Mass, as well as why the server lifts the priest’s chasuble at the Consecration. When I return to Mass this Sunday, there will be more things to notice and meditate on at Mass, and even more reasons to appreciate the Old Rite. Since it would take me more words than would be convenient to write here to explain everything this chapter awakened in me, I will simply say that this chapter was a delight to go through.
I will not deny that one of the greatest joys I derived from reading this book was that of seeing the “atmosphere” in the Church that almost made me lose my faith be destroyed by Dr. Kwasniewski’s reasoning. As both a traditional Catholic who has the privilege of attending the TLM and a writer in the same arena, I often like to ponder on the differences between the liturgies, the state of the Church today, and how it might all be resolved in the future. There was already no doubt in my mind that the only way forward was to go back – to return to the old ways – to Tradition. Reading “Close the Workshop” has confirmed me in my position, and given me a wealth of knowledge I did not have before. Even if this book was not an easy read when compared to the flimsy sentences we social media addicts are nowadays accustomed to, it is well-worth plowing through – and, I would say, doing so more than once.
Even if I have learned many things from reading this book, I believe it is one of those works that takes more than one reading in order to retrieve everything there is to learn, so much is there to ponder over. I strongly recommend this book for anyone from the new-ish Trad to the experienced one, especially if you are seeking to learn more about the differences between the two liturgies and how to answer arguments for the Novus Ordo or against the TLM.
In conclusion, my most favorite thing about this book is its very premise: that there is no solution other than to return to the true Roman Rite, the Mass of the Ages – the traditional Latin Mass, and that nothing will ever work until we do. In other words, burn it all [the liturgical “reform”] to the ground! Let us return to our patrimony, that which is so priceless that the blood of countless martyrs was spilled for!
“Any attempt at reforming the reform from within the framework of the Novus Ordo would be like trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again.” - Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed
I knew this was going to be my kind of book when I found myself nodding with agreement at the Foreword…
While I used to be an avid reader (or a bookworm, as my Mom would put it), I fell out of the habit of reading during the last few years. These days, it generally takes a very engaging plot to get the urge to read to arise naturally in me. This was not a work of fiction, yet, once I got into “Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed” I was – to use the modern expression – hooked.
In this book, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski makes two cases: why – as the title states – “the New Mass can’t be fixed,” and why the TLM is the only path if the Church is to move forward. The amount of work put into this book is evident from the start. Dr. Kwasniewski makes both cases with a painstaking amount of clarity, evidence, even sometimes humor(!), and clear-cut arguments that address any and all objections or questions that may arise in the reader’s mind (I know, because I had a few questions myself!).
For the first eleven years of my life, the only rite of the Mass I ever knew was the Novus Ordo. When I was fourteen, my family started attending the TLM almost exclusively (I say “almost exclusively” because we attend it as much as our situation – slightly more than an hour away from the parish – allows). Looking back, I see that, even if I lived through those years of my life at the Novus Ordo, my faith suffered through them. It is because of this that I am deeply thankful to Dr. Kwasniewski for his work in exposing the errors behind the New Rite and the logic used by its defenders, as well as his work in the traditional movement.
I must highlight one of the chapters in this book that was one of the most fun and insightful to read for me: “Allegory as a Key to Understanding Traditional Liturgy.” This chapter opened my eyes to many of the symbolic elements of the traditional Mass that I had not noticed or “read through” yet, such as the reason behind why the priest sits at the Gloria and Credo at a Sung or Solemn Mass, as well as why the server lifts the priest’s chasuble at the Consecration. When I return to Mass this Sunday, there will be more things to notice and meditate on at Mass, and even more reasons to appreciate the Old Rite. Since it would take me more words than would be convenient to write here to explain everything this chapter awakened in me, I will simply say that this chapter was a delight to go through.
I will not deny that one of the greatest joys I derived from reading this book was that of seeing the “atmosphere” in the Church that almost made me lose my faith be destroyed by Dr. Kwasniewski’s reasoning. As both a traditional Catholic who has the privilege of attending the TLM and a writer in the same arena, I often like to ponder on the differences between the liturgies, the state of the Church today, and how it might all be resolved in the future. There was already no doubt in my mind that the only way forward was to go back – to return to the old ways – to Tradition. Reading “Close the Workshop” has confirmed me in my position, and given me a wealth of knowledge I did not have before. Even if this book was not an easy read when compared to the flimsy sentences we social media addicts are nowadays accustomed to, it is well-worth plowing through – and, I would say, doing so more than once.
Even if I have learned many things from reading this book, I believe it is one of those works that takes more than one reading in order to retrieve everything there is to learn, so much is there to ponder over. I strongly recommend this book for anyone from the new-ish Trad to the experienced one, especially if you are seeking to learn more about the differences between the two liturgies and how to answer arguments for the Novus Ordo or against the TLM.
In conclusion, my most favorite thing about this book is its very premise: that there is no solution other than to return to the true Roman Rite, the Mass of the Ages – the traditional Latin Mass, and that nothing will ever work until we do. In other words, burn it all [the liturgical “reform”] to the ground! Let us return to our patrimony, that which is so priceless that the blood of countless martyrs was spilled for!
“Any attempt at reforming the reform from within the framework of the Novus Ordo would be like trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again.” - Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed
May 14, 2025
A brilliant defense of the Old Rite and a devastating critique of the New Rite, Close the Workshop is thorough and wide-ranging; it is scholarly and commonsensical; it is incisive and engaging; it is charitable—but it is uncompromising. It is, in short, one of the best books you could ever hope to read on the extraordinary merits of traditional liturgy and the grave problems of modernized liturgy.
In this book, Peter Kwasniewski combines rigorous research and key historical information with keen insight and the spiritual depth of one who has not only studied the liturgy but allowed himself to be formed by it. If you’re already devoted to the traditional Mass, this book will help you to love it more fervently and participate in it more fruitfully. If you’re still unsure about which liturgical path is right for you, for your family or parish, and for the Church as a whole, this book will present arguments and reflections that may seriously change your life. And if you’re indifferent or opposed to the traditional Mass, I challenge you to read this book with an open mind, and then see where it takes you.
The central assertion of Close the Workshop is that the modernized liturgical rites of the twentieth century should be abandoned, not simply “improved” or “reformed” (again), and that the traditional rites are a liturgical masterpiece that should be contemplated, admired, and embraced rather than “updated” or “revised.” A sampling of chapter titles will help to convey the diverse ways in which the author defends and develops this central assertion:
“The Irreparable Failure of the Liturgical Reform”
“The Outrageous Propaganda of Cardinal Roche & Co.”
“The ‘Latin Novus Ordo’ Is Not the Solution”
“Time for the Soul to Absorb the Mysteries”
“Discovering Tradition: The Priest’s Crisis of Conscience”
“Allegory as a Key to Understanding Traditional Liturgy”
“In Defense of Readings in Latin”
“The Grace of Stability: How Liturgy Forms the Christian Soul”
“Modest Proposals for Improving Low Mass”
The sacred liturgy is the fundamental way in which Catholics experience Catholicism: “the Mass mystically sums up and presents the Church to us, it is the clearing house, the axis or nexus, the core, the primary symbol, the point of departure and point of arrival” (p. 396). To learn more about the liturgy is to learn more about the Faith, and one of the best ways to learn more about the liturgy is to read Close the Workshop.
In this book, Peter Kwasniewski combines rigorous research and key historical information with keen insight and the spiritual depth of one who has not only studied the liturgy but allowed himself to be formed by it. If you’re already devoted to the traditional Mass, this book will help you to love it more fervently and participate in it more fruitfully. If you’re still unsure about which liturgical path is right for you, for your family or parish, and for the Church as a whole, this book will present arguments and reflections that may seriously change your life. And if you’re indifferent or opposed to the traditional Mass, I challenge you to read this book with an open mind, and then see where it takes you.
The central assertion of Close the Workshop is that the modernized liturgical rites of the twentieth century should be abandoned, not simply “improved” or “reformed” (again), and that the traditional rites are a liturgical masterpiece that should be contemplated, admired, and embraced rather than “updated” or “revised.” A sampling of chapter titles will help to convey the diverse ways in which the author defends and develops this central assertion:
“The Irreparable Failure of the Liturgical Reform”
“The Outrageous Propaganda of Cardinal Roche & Co.”
“The ‘Latin Novus Ordo’ Is Not the Solution”
“Time for the Soul to Absorb the Mysteries”
“Discovering Tradition: The Priest’s Crisis of Conscience”
“Allegory as a Key to Understanding Traditional Liturgy”
“In Defense of Readings in Latin”
“The Grace of Stability: How Liturgy Forms the Christian Soul”
“Modest Proposals for Improving Low Mass”
The sacred liturgy is the fundamental way in which Catholics experience Catholicism: “the Mass mystically sums up and presents the Church to us, it is the clearing house, the axis or nexus, the core, the primary symbol, the point of departure and point of arrival” (p. 396). To learn more about the liturgy is to learn more about the Faith, and one of the best ways to learn more about the liturgy is to read Close the Workshop.
July 31, 2025
Dr. Kwasniewski’s Close the Workshop is a well-nigh definitive case for the Vetus Ordo’s irreplaceability, and the Novus Ordo’s unfixability. The footnotes alone are worth the price of the book. There you will find, carefully and clearly sourced, the trail of broken promises that is Catholic liturgy in the Latin rite of the West. In many ways, this is a tragic story: of Popes (even Pian Popes!) who ought not to have trusted so many “experts;” of cardinals who ought to have lived up to the cardinatial calling to martyrdom for the truths of Tradition; and, last but certainly not least, of the laity, who have been robbed of a precious legacy, and told to be quiet. It’s all here, in meticulous detail, but also with high readability for the general reader who wonders, as another banal song is pounded out on the keys of a piano at Holy Mass, is this really how we are to worship the Lord God?
Kwasniewski delves into Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II’s constitution on the liturgy, in some detail, and shows us how the revolution’s seeds for the sacking of the traditional liturgy were planted there. Herein lies the primary thesis of this book: the Traditional liturgy, going back in parts more than a thousand years, did not need radical reform, and its substitute, the Novus Ordo, is, sadly, beyond reforming due to its structural allowances for desacralization, de-sacrificialization, and general banalization (“Good morning, everyone!” isn’t in the rubrics, nor should it be.) Readers experiencing “Novus Ordo fatigue” as described on X really need this book: it’s both diagnosis, and cure.
Readers will also find here accessible references to the philosophies and theologies and men behind the Novus Ordo. There is a stunning chapter on Annibale Bugnini, the central architect of the “updating” of the Mass and, indeed, every rite of the Church’s liturgy. The result? It was, says Kwasniewski, not the Church who “engaged” modernity, but modernity that “colonized the Church.” For those readers who want a strong dose of reality about what happened to the Catholic Church since th elate 1960s, how Her worship went from grandeur, from holy silences, from the angelic chant of the ages, to Father cracking jokes before he leaves the sanctuary, this book is for you.
While coming in just over 400 pages, with a helpful index, this book is a thorough indictment that should be read by every Pastor who cares for his flock, and knows he will be judged on how well he leads them to the Lord, the final end, the joy of heaven face-to-face with their creator. I think, as well, every adult Catholic should read this book. It will fire your devotion to pray for a restoration of the liturgy, whereby souls may be fed by the Lord in an atmosphere that fosters holiness, reverence, and interior silence in a noisy world that wants us to forget the Lord.
My one criticism is I would have liked to see more attention paid to the interior temple of the soul of the Catholic in the chapter on the liturgy as temple. Otherwise, this is a work that I predict will soon achieve classic status for those who care about how we worship God.
Kwasniewski delves into Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II’s constitution on the liturgy, in some detail, and shows us how the revolution’s seeds for the sacking of the traditional liturgy were planted there. Herein lies the primary thesis of this book: the Traditional liturgy, going back in parts more than a thousand years, did not need radical reform, and its substitute, the Novus Ordo, is, sadly, beyond reforming due to its structural allowances for desacralization, de-sacrificialization, and general banalization (“Good morning, everyone!” isn’t in the rubrics, nor should it be.) Readers experiencing “Novus Ordo fatigue” as described on X really need this book: it’s both diagnosis, and cure.
Readers will also find here accessible references to the philosophies and theologies and men behind the Novus Ordo. There is a stunning chapter on Annibale Bugnini, the central architect of the “updating” of the Mass and, indeed, every rite of the Church’s liturgy. The result? It was, says Kwasniewski, not the Church who “engaged” modernity, but modernity that “colonized the Church.” For those readers who want a strong dose of reality about what happened to the Catholic Church since th elate 1960s, how Her worship went from grandeur, from holy silences, from the angelic chant of the ages, to Father cracking jokes before he leaves the sanctuary, this book is for you.
While coming in just over 400 pages, with a helpful index, this book is a thorough indictment that should be read by every Pastor who cares for his flock, and knows he will be judged on how well he leads them to the Lord, the final end, the joy of heaven face-to-face with their creator. I think, as well, every adult Catholic should read this book. It will fire your devotion to pray for a restoration of the liturgy, whereby souls may be fed by the Lord in an atmosphere that fosters holiness, reverence, and interior silence in a noisy world that wants us to forget the Lord.
My one criticism is I would have liked to see more attention paid to the interior temple of the soul of the Catholic in the chapter on the liturgy as temple. Otherwise, this is a work that I predict will soon achieve classic status for those who care about how we worship God.
March 6, 2025
The claim in the title is a real challenge. Don't let that put you off reading this book, because it's full of fantastic information about how to pray more deeply at Holy Mass (and I say this as a priest who offers Mass in both forms). Not only does Dr. Kwasknieski carefully explain all of his claims, but he clearly does so as a man who dearly loves Holy Mass. Over my years as a Catholic priest, I've found that there's a lot of misinformation about something as simple as how and why the Church has prayed the way she prayed for thousands of years. This book is a welcome source to dispel those myths.
If the title of the book poses and provocative challenge, it's one that every devout Catholic who loves Holy Mass ought to take up, the challenge to continue growing in faith, know our liturgy better, and pray it better every day of our lives. Perhaps, we just may end up agreeing that the traditional Mass of Holy Church is formative, beautiful, and irreplaceable.
If the title of the book poses and provocative challenge, it's one that every devout Catholic who loves Holy Mass ought to take up, the challenge to continue growing in faith, know our liturgy better, and pray it better every day of our lives. Perhaps, we just may end up agreeing that the traditional Mass of Holy Church is formative, beautiful, and irreplaceable.
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