diff --git a/src/rpdk/core/project.py b/src/rpdk/core/project.py
index 2a2cb9dd..37b8af90 100644
--- a/src/rpdk/core/project.py
+++ b/src/rpdk/core/project.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ def load_settings(self):
                     "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudformation-cli/latest/userguide/what-is-cloudformation-cli.html"
                 )
         except KeyError as e:
-            raise InvalidProjectError(
+            self._raise_invalid_project(
                 f"Error extracting protocol version from '{self.settings_path}'", e
             )