diff --git a/spec/app/atom-spec.coffee b/spec/app/atom-spec.coffee
index e89ae779e..3b765e1f8 100644
--- a/spec/app/atom-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/atom-spec.coffee
@@ -63,24 +63,6 @@ describe "the `atom` global", ->
       window.loadPackage("package-with-module")
       expect(stylesheetElementForId(stylesheetPath).length).toBe 1
 
-  describe ".loadPackages()", ->
-    beforeEach ->
-      spyOn(syntax, 'addGrammar')
-
-    it "aborts the worker when all packages have been loaded", ->
-      LoadTextMatePackagesTask = require 'load-text-mate-packages-task'
-      spyOn(LoadTextMatePackagesTask.prototype, 'abort').andCallThrough()
-      eventHandler = jasmine.createSpy('eventHandler')
-      syntax.on 'grammars-loaded', eventHandler
-      config.get("core.disabledPackages").push('textmate-package.tmbundle', 'package-with-snippets')
-      atom.loadPackages()
-
-      waitsFor "all packages to load", 5000, -> eventHandler.callCount > 0
-
-      runs ->
-        expect(LoadTextMatePackagesTask.prototype.abort).toHaveBeenCalled()
-        expect(LoadTextMatePackagesTask.prototype.abort.calls.length).toBe 1
-
   describe "package lifecycle", ->
     describe "activation", ->
       it "calls activate on the package main with its previous state", ->
diff --git a/spec/spec-helper.coffee b/spec/spec-helper.coffee
index bfb1ffdef..9ac81274d 100644
--- a/spec/spec-helper.coffee
+++ b/spec/spec-helper.coffee
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ window.loadTextMatePackages = ->
   config.packageDirPaths.unshift(fixturePackagesPath)
   window.textMatePackages = []
   for path in atom.getPackagePaths() when TextMatePackage.testName(path)
-    window.textMatePackages.push window.loadPackage(fs.base(path))
+    window.textMatePackages.push window.loadPackage(fs.base(path), sync: true)
 
 window.loadTextMatePackages()
 
diff --git a/src/app/atom.coffee b/src/app/atom.coffee
index 604c15821..581cbff63 100644
--- a/src/app/atom.coffee
+++ b/src/app/atom.coffee
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ _ = require 'underscore'
 Package = require 'package'
 TextMatePackage = require 'text-mate-package'
 Theme = require 'theme'
-LoadTextMatePackagesTask = require 'load-text-mate-packages-task'
 
 messageIdCounter = 1
 originalSendMessageToBrowserProcess = atom.sendMessageToBrowserProcess
@@ -46,7 +45,7 @@ _.extend atom,
     textPackagePath = _.find @getPackagePaths(), (path) -> fs.base(path) is 'text.tmbundle'
     pack = Package.build(textPackagePath)
     @loadedPackages.push(pack)
-    pack.load()
+    pack.load(sync: true)
 
   loadPackages: ->
     textMatePackages = []
@@ -54,12 +53,7 @@ _.extend atom,
     for path in paths
       pack = Package.build(path)
       @loadedPackages.push(pack)
-      if pack instanceof TextMatePackage
-        textMatePackages.push(pack)
-      else
-        pack.load()
-
-    new LoadTextMatePackagesTask(textMatePackages).start() if textMatePackages.length > 0
+      pack.load()
 
   activatePackages: ->
     pack.activate() for pack in @loadedPackages
diff --git a/src/app/load-text-mate-packages-handler.coffee b/src/app/load-text-mate-packages-handler.coffee
deleted file mode 100644
index c6dd9a18a..000000000
--- a/src/app/load-text-mate-packages-handler.coffee
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-TextMatePackage = require 'text-mate-package'
-
-module.exports =
-  loadPackage: (path) ->
-    callTaskMethod('packageLoaded', new TextMatePackage(path).readGrammars())
diff --git a/src/app/load-text-mate-packages-task.coffee b/src/app/load-text-mate-packages-task.coffee
deleted file mode 100644
index f2fef932c..000000000
--- a/src/app/load-text-mate-packages-task.coffee
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-Task = require 'task'
-
-module.exports =
-class LoadTextMatePackagesTask extends Task
-
-  constructor: (@packages) ->
-    super('load-text-mate-packages-handler')
-
-  started: ->
-    @loadNextPackage()
-
-  loadNextPackage: ->
-    unless @packages.length
-      @done()
-      syntax.trigger 'grammars-loaded'
-      return
-
-    @package = @packages.shift()
-    @loadPackage(@package.path)
-
-  loadPackage: (path) ->
-    @callWorkerMethod('loadPackage', path)
-
-  packageLoaded: (grammars) ->
-    @package.loadGrammars(grammars)
-    @loadNextPackage()
diff --git a/src/app/text-mate-grammar.coffee b/src/app/text-mate-grammar.coffee
index 22a83612e..94a6c0ff4 100644
--- a/src/app/text-mate-grammar.coffee
+++ b/src/app/text-mate-grammar.coffee
@@ -10,6 +10,16 @@ class TextMateGrammar
   @readFromPath: (path) ->
     fs.readPlist(path)
 
+  @load: (path, done) ->
+    fs.readObjectAsync path, (err, object) ->
+      if err
+        done(err)
+      else
+        done(null, new TextMateGrammar(object))
+
+  @loadSync: (path) ->
+    new TextMateGrammar(fs.readObject(path))
+
   name: null
   fileTypes: null
   scopeName: null
diff --git a/src/app/text-mate-package.coffee b/src/app/text-mate-package.coffee
index bb7f6ed99..e45a256f8 100644
--- a/src/app/text-mate-package.coffee
+++ b/src/app/text-mate-package.coffee
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ plist = require 'plist'
 _ = require 'underscore'
 TextMateGrammar = require 'text-mate-grammar'
 CSON = require 'cson'
+async = require 'async'
 
 module.exports =
 class TextMatePackage extends Package
@@ -17,38 +18,39 @@ class TextMatePackage extends Package
     @syntaxesPath = fsUtils.join(@path, "Syntaxes")
     @grammars = []
 
-  load: ->
-    try
+  load: ({sync}={}) ->
+    if sync
+      @loadGrammarsSync()
+    else
       @loadGrammars()
-    catch e
-      console.warn "Failed to load package at '#{@path}'", e.stack
-    this
+    @loadScopedProperties()
+
+  legalGrammarExtensions: ['plist', 'tmLanguage', 'tmlanguage', 'cson', 'json']
+
+  loadGrammars: (done) ->
+    fsUtils.isDirectoryAsync @syntaxesPath, (isDirectory) =>
+      if isDirectory
+        fsUtils.listAsync @syntaxesPath, @legalGrammarExtensions, (err, paths) =>
+          return console.log("Error loading grammars of TextMate package '#{@path}':", err.stack, err) if err
+          async.eachSeries paths, @loadGrammarAtPath, done
+
+  loadGrammarAtPath: (path, done) =>
+    TextMateGrammar.load path, (err, grammar) =>
+      return console.log("Error loading grammar at path '#{path}':", err.stack ? err) if err
+      @addGrammar(grammar)
+
+  loadGrammarsSync: ->
+    for path in fsUtils.list(@syntaxesPath, @legalGrammarExtensions) ? []
+      @addGrammar(TextMateGrammar.loadSync(path))
+
+  addGrammar: (grammar) ->
+    @grammars.push(grammar)
+    syntax.addGrammar(grammar)
 
   activate: -> # no-op
 
   getGrammars: -> @grammars
 
-  readGrammars: ->
-    grammars = []
-    for grammarPath in fsUtils.list(@syntaxesPath)
-      try
-        grammars.push(TextMateGrammar.readFromPath(grammarPath))
-      catch e
-        console.warn "Failed to load grammar at path '#{grammarPath}'", e.stack
-    grammars
-
-  addGrammar: (rawGrammar) ->
-    grammar = new TextMateGrammar(rawGrammar)
-    @grammars.push(grammar)
-    syntax.addGrammar(grammar)
-
-  loadGrammars: (rawGrammars) ->
-    rawGrammars = @readGrammars() unless rawGrammars?
-
-    @grammars = []
-    @addGrammar(rawGrammar) for rawGrammar in rawGrammars
-    @loadScopedProperties()
-
   loadScopedProperties: ->
     for { selector, properties } in @getScopedProperties()
       syntax.addProperties(selector, properties)
@@ -70,10 +72,10 @@ class TextMatePackage extends Package
 
   getTextMatePreferenceObjects: ->
     preferenceObjects = []
-    if fs.exists(@preferencesPath)
-      for preferencePath in fs.list(@preferencesPath)
+    if fsUtils.exists(@preferencesPath)
+      for preferencePath in fsUtils.list(@preferencesPath)
         try
-          preferenceObjects.push(fs.readObject(preferencePath))
+          preferenceObjects.push(fsUtils.readObject(preferencePath))
         catch e
           console.warn "Failed to parse preference at path '#{preferencePath}'", e.stack
     preferenceObjects
diff --git a/src/packages/gfm/spec/gfm-spec.coffee b/src/packages/gfm/spec/gfm-spec.coffee
index 7460dfea5..484835ae9 100644
--- a/src/packages/gfm/spec/gfm-spec.coffee
+++ b/src/packages/gfm/spec/gfm-spec.coffee
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ describe "GitHub Flavored Markdown grammar", ->
     grammar = syntax.addGrammar.argsForCall[0][0]
 
   it "parses the grammar", ->
-    expect(grammar).toBeTruthy()
+    expect(grammar).toBeDefined()
     expect(grammar.scopeName).toBe "source.gfm"
 
   it "tokenizes horizontal rules", ->
diff --git a/src/stdlib/fs-utils.coffee b/src/stdlib/fs-utils.coffee
index 724b5e7bb..5a912717c 100644
--- a/src/stdlib/fs-utils.coffee
+++ b/src/stdlib/fs-utils.coffee
@@ -69,6 +69,15 @@ module.exports =
     catch e
       false
 
+  isDirectoryAsync: (path, done) ->
+    return done(false) unless path?.length > 0
+    fs.exists path, (exists) ->
+      if exists
+        fs.stat path, (err, stat) ->
+          done(stat?.isDirectory() ? false)
+      else
+        done(false)
+
   # Returns true if the file specified by path exists and is a
   # regular file.
   isFile: (path) ->
@@ -291,6 +300,13 @@ module.exports =
     else
       @readPlist(path)
 
+  readObjectAsync: (path, done) ->
+    cson = require 'cson'
+    if cson.isObjectPath(path)
+      cson.readObjectAsync(path, done)
+    else
+      @readPlistAsync(path, done)
+
   watchPath: (path, callback) ->
     path = @absolute(path)
     watchCallback = (eventType, eventPath) =>