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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.
807 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 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.
April 7, 2026
I decided over this last Lent to pick up my copy of Peter Kwasniewski's Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn't Broken and the New Mass Can't Be Fixed. I picked it over with a fine-toothed comb (and highlighter and pen). I, like the author of the book's forward (and Peter himself!) have been on quite the liturgical journey myself. Page after page, I found my own experience mirrored and echoed (with much better insights). As you can imagine, my book is highlighted cover to cover with many hearts and exclamation points to accent my sympathy with its contents. It took me years of hard knocks and internal wrestling to come to many of the conclusions Dr. Kwasniewski eloquently illustrates in these pages. As a mercy, I pray that many people read this book. Everyone can learn from Dr. Kwasniewski's charitable and robust treatment of the current liturgical reality the faithful find themselves in.
The book begins with a quote from the imminently quotable C.S. Lewis, "If you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road....Going back is the quickest way on."
Clearly, at some point, we took a wrong turn. Many who have waded into the waters of the so-called "liturgy wars," both online and in-person, have received many, many different voices and interpretations of the mess we find ourselves in. Bishops, priests, laity, educated and uneducated alike, can all agree that the situation we find ourselves in is a trainwreck. This trainwreck is particularly acute and painful in the most common experience of the faithful: the mass. It is by no means clear what has happened or what ought to be done. There are so many competing narratives, and the most popular are riddled with inconsistencies and oversimplifications. Given the disaster we find ourselves in, we need sure guides.
Peter Kwawniewski has dedicated his life to the preservation, defense, and proliferation of the Roman liturgical patrimony. This work, the final portion of his informal trilogy (preceded by the Once and Future Roman Rite and Bound by Truth), provides, in a personal and approachable style, a work that will directly challenge many of the common sedatives given to those who have realized something strange is afoot in the contemporary liturgical experience of the Church. Peter structures his book into two parts. The first, "Detours to a Dead End," thoroughly plunges into many of the historical defenses made in favor of the contemporary reformed rite. By simply presenting the facts and sharing his own journey in their midst, Dr. Kwawnieski summarizes complex reflections and historical details that would take the dedicated reader multiple volumes of theological, liturgical, and historical texts (and hours of internet source-hunting rabbit holes) to simply be abreast of the actual situation. We might say this first part is meant to put the nail in the coffin on the promoted "reform of the reform." It does, I believe, adequately convey the gist of the situation. But what are we to do if further tinkering does not bear the solution to our injuries?
After our dreams of mutually enriching the contemporary missal have been shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, Dr. Kwasniewski then addresses the elephant in the room: "Did-Does-the Old Mass Need to be Reformed?" You can already guess his answer. But we must not be too hasty. It would not do us good to assume why he responds "No." Instead, everyone would benefit from Dr. Kwasniewski's radical appreciation and steadfast commitment to the fullness of the Roman liturgical patrimony. Once you finish reading Part II, I am assured, if you have not already read them, you will be convinced to purchase the first two parts of this informal trilogy to deepen your grasp and love for the Roman rite.
Everyone who cares deeply about the liturgy will be edified by Dr. Kwasniewski's impassioned, level-headed, and informed commitment to the full-flowered Roman rite in all its "un-reformed" splendor. I hope, through reading this book, many can be spared the difficult journey of learning the lessons contained therein the "hard way," whether that is in the thankless and often futile effort to transform one's "Novus Ordo" mass into the beloved Summorum Pontificum style unicorn or the extremely difficult "dance" of trying to regularly attend both "forms" of the Roman rite as a lay family.
By encountering the full force of the situation in all its painful details, Dr. Kwaniewski gives people one of the greatest gifts they can be given in such times: clarity. This book will help any moderately educated and carrying person discern the liturgical patrimony they allow themselves to be formed by, through, and toward. Perhaps even more importantly, this clarity will give parents the merciful opportunity to clearly weigh which patrimony they want their children's childhood and spiritual sensitivities to be shaped by and within. Our experience of sacred worship, for better or for worse, leaves a profound mark on our spiritual life. For the life of me, I will never not love in some recess of my core John Foley's Turn To Me (O Turn, and be Saved). It is etched in my soul, but wouldn't it have provided me with much more spiritual scaffolding to have many of the most common and significant chants in its place?
I recognize that many are concerned about "traditionalism." They have perhaps encountered poorly adjusted, chronically online people with more zeal than emotional intelligence. If that is you, I am sorry. If you have encountered or been wounded by a person you love or respect who eventually came to the conclusion they needed to fully commit to a traditional latin mass, perhaps this book will help you understand why, apart from the painful experience such a loss of community brings, they felt obliged to let their life she shaped by the "old" liturgy. This book won't solve the deep hurt many are experiencing in the collateral damage of the "liturgy wars." Nonetheless, the book does provide spiritual wisdom from the depths of Dr. Kwasniewski's own personal journey and prayerful reflection. Of course, only God can truly guide each of us into the healing love He has in store for the Church. And that is what the liturgical situation of the Church needs: healing. We cannot cure the problem if we don't properly diagnose the disease and rule out some outdated treatments as well. Hopefully, this book offers direction to bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laity to discern how God is calling them to respond to the crisis (and to throw out overly simplistic solutions as well).
Don't hesitate. Buy this book. Share it, and have it requested (alongside Once and Future Roman Rite and Bound by Truth) to your local library so that many, even those who don't have the cash for a new gorgeous book, can benefit from the wisdom in its pages. But if you do have the cash, buy a copy (or two) and tell others to do the same.
The book begins with a quote from the imminently quotable C.S. Lewis, "If you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road....Going back is the quickest way on."
Clearly, at some point, we took a wrong turn. Many who have waded into the waters of the so-called "liturgy wars," both online and in-person, have received many, many different voices and interpretations of the mess we find ourselves in. Bishops, priests, laity, educated and uneducated alike, can all agree that the situation we find ourselves in is a trainwreck. This trainwreck is particularly acute and painful in the most common experience of the faithful: the mass. It is by no means clear what has happened or what ought to be done. There are so many competing narratives, and the most popular are riddled with inconsistencies and oversimplifications. Given the disaster we find ourselves in, we need sure guides.
Peter Kwawniewski has dedicated his life to the preservation, defense, and proliferation of the Roman liturgical patrimony. This work, the final portion of his informal trilogy (preceded by the Once and Future Roman Rite and Bound by Truth), provides, in a personal and approachable style, a work that will directly challenge many of the common sedatives given to those who have realized something strange is afoot in the contemporary liturgical experience of the Church. Peter structures his book into two parts. The first, "Detours to a Dead End," thoroughly plunges into many of the historical defenses made in favor of the contemporary reformed rite. By simply presenting the facts and sharing his own journey in their midst, Dr. Kwawnieski summarizes complex reflections and historical details that would take the dedicated reader multiple volumes of theological, liturgical, and historical texts (and hours of internet source-hunting rabbit holes) to simply be abreast of the actual situation. We might say this first part is meant to put the nail in the coffin on the promoted "reform of the reform." It does, I believe, adequately convey the gist of the situation. But what are we to do if further tinkering does not bear the solution to our injuries?
After our dreams of mutually enriching the contemporary missal have been shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, Dr. Kwasniewski then addresses the elephant in the room: "Did-Does-the Old Mass Need to be Reformed?" You can already guess his answer. But we must not be too hasty. It would not do us good to assume why he responds "No." Instead, everyone would benefit from Dr. Kwasniewski's radical appreciation and steadfast commitment to the fullness of the Roman liturgical patrimony. Once you finish reading Part II, I am assured, if you have not already read them, you will be convinced to purchase the first two parts of this informal trilogy to deepen your grasp and love for the Roman rite.
Everyone who cares deeply about the liturgy will be edified by Dr. Kwasniewski's impassioned, level-headed, and informed commitment to the full-flowered Roman rite in all its "un-reformed" splendor. I hope, through reading this book, many can be spared the difficult journey of learning the lessons contained therein the "hard way," whether that is in the thankless and often futile effort to transform one's "Novus Ordo" mass into the beloved Summorum Pontificum style unicorn or the extremely difficult "dance" of trying to regularly attend both "forms" of the Roman rite as a lay family.
By encountering the full force of the situation in all its painful details, Dr. Kwaniewski gives people one of the greatest gifts they can be given in such times: clarity. This book will help any moderately educated and carrying person discern the liturgical patrimony they allow themselves to be formed by, through, and toward. Perhaps even more importantly, this clarity will give parents the merciful opportunity to clearly weigh which patrimony they want their children's childhood and spiritual sensitivities to be shaped by and within. Our experience of sacred worship, for better or for worse, leaves a profound mark on our spiritual life. For the life of me, I will never not love in some recess of my core John Foley's Turn To Me (O Turn, and be Saved). It is etched in my soul, but wouldn't it have provided me with much more spiritual scaffolding to have many of the most common and significant chants in its place?
I recognize that many are concerned about "traditionalism." They have perhaps encountered poorly adjusted, chronically online people with more zeal than emotional intelligence. If that is you, I am sorry. If you have encountered or been wounded by a person you love or respect who eventually came to the conclusion they needed to fully commit to a traditional latin mass, perhaps this book will help you understand why, apart from the painful experience such a loss of community brings, they felt obliged to let their life she shaped by the "old" liturgy. This book won't solve the deep hurt many are experiencing in the collateral damage of the "liturgy wars." Nonetheless, the book does provide spiritual wisdom from the depths of Dr. Kwasniewski's own personal journey and prayerful reflection. Of course, only God can truly guide each of us into the healing love He has in store for the Church. And that is what the liturgical situation of the Church needs: healing. We cannot cure the problem if we don't properly diagnose the disease and rule out some outdated treatments as well. Hopefully, this book offers direction to bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laity to discern how God is calling them to respond to the crisis (and to throw out overly simplistic solutions as well).
Don't hesitate. Buy this book. Share it, and have it requested (alongside Once and Future Roman Rite and Bound by Truth) to your local library so that many, even those who don't have the cash for a new gorgeous book, can benefit from the wisdom in its pages. But if you do have the cash, buy a copy (or two) and tell others to do the same.
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.
February 26, 2026
Prepare to be Enlightened and Emboldened
An ever-growing swath of us Catholics seek to practice our faith to its fullest but are left with the all too common, mostly irreverent, Novus Ordo parish Mass as our most viable option. Too many of us are unaware of the stark, theological differences between the Novus Ordo and its predecessor of all time known as the Traditional Latin Mass. For decades we’ve been told they are “two forms of the same rite” and many of us still believe they are identical Masses, one in English, the other in Latin. As Dr. Kwasniewski soundly argues in Close the Workshop, nothing could be further from the truth.
If you have suffered the loss of your Traditional Latin Mass and been offered in its place a “reverent” Novus Ordo (worse yet, a Novus Ordo in Latin) . . . or if you are one of the growing number of Catholics thirsting for the Sublime but finding only a humancentric pray-along-sing-along-get-along at your local parish . . . then prepare to be enlightened and emboldened by Dr. Kwasniewski’s in-depth look at the history, facts and implications of the Novus Ordo Mass, why it is terminally flawed, and how restoration of the dare-I-say True Mass is essential. Order a copy for yourself and another one to share.
An ever-growing swath of us Catholics seek to practice our faith to its fullest but are left with the all too common, mostly irreverent, Novus Ordo parish Mass as our most viable option. Too many of us are unaware of the stark, theological differences between the Novus Ordo and its predecessor of all time known as the Traditional Latin Mass. For decades we’ve been told they are “two forms of the same rite” and many of us still believe they are identical Masses, one in English, the other in Latin. As Dr. Kwasniewski soundly argues in Close the Workshop, nothing could be further from the truth.
If you have suffered the loss of your Traditional Latin Mass and been offered in its place a “reverent” Novus Ordo (worse yet, a Novus Ordo in Latin) . . . or if you are one of the growing number of Catholics thirsting for the Sublime but finding only a humancentric pray-along-sing-along-get-along at your local parish . . . then prepare to be enlightened and emboldened by Dr. Kwasniewski’s in-depth look at the history, facts and implications of the Novus Ordo Mass, why it is terminally flawed, and how restoration of the dare-I-say True Mass is essential. Order a copy for yourself and another one to share.
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.
February 24, 2026
Dr. Kwasniewski is a force to be reckoned with! His writings on the liturgy are learned, and deeply insightful, presenting information that the vast majority of people--even some scholars--are not aware of. The case he presents is very strong, and should be seriously considered by all Catholics who seek to understand and appropriately respond to some of the most vital issues facing the Church today.
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