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Cindi Lamas

Cindi Lamas

Headshot of cindi

Cindi grew up in mid-town Kan­sas City, Missouri, was a member of Guardian Angels Parish where she attended grades K-8. She attended St. Teresa’s Acad­emy and gradu­ated from Saint Mary Col­lege, Leaven­worth, KS with a de­gree in Biol­ogy and emphasis in Chemis­try.

She com­pleted her gradu­ate studies In­ternship as an Clinical Labo­ratory Scien­tist at Trinity Lu­theran Hospital. She worked as a clinical labora­tory scientist for 15 years and re­tired after ac­quiring a life threaten­ing allergy to natural rub­ber. She went back to school to obtain her BA in Spanish and BEd K-12 at UMKC.

She taught 6 years in the Liberty School district and 11 years in the Independence School district before retir­ing in 2020. She answered God’s call and is cur­rently work­ing as a Spanish teacher K-5th grade at St. Therese North.

Cindi lost the love of her life, Paul in 2019 but her two chil­dren have been her bedrock. They both attended St. James Elementary and still live in the area.

Cindi is a volunteer usher, greeter, and point of contact at the Sunday, 5pm Mass. She has been volunteering as a lead teacher for the RE classes. She has done mission work in Bolivia and now is involved with the Guatemala Humanitarian Founda­tion building churches associated with St. Therese North and St. James. Her hobbies and interests are: reading (especially books on getting closer to Christ and her favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo), concerts, art, and travel. She likes to garden, take her dog on walks and to paint.

She is very honored to have been discerned as a member of the Pastoral Council and looks forward to working with the other members, the pastor, and parishioners.

Prayer & Devotions

St. James invites you to deepen your spiritual life by taking advantage of one or more of the following activities and events. 

Point of Contact Ministry

Point of Contact Ministry - POC

The Point of Contact Ministry are volunteers who are trained to manage  emergency situations that may occur during weekend Mass celebrations.  They will coordinate other volunteers by assigning tasks and jobs to each volunteer.    Such emergencies include:

  • Fire Alarms and Sanctuary Evacuation
  • Tornado Warnings and Evacuation
  • Invoke the Emergency Assist Ministry for First Aid
Tornado down the road
Fire Alarm on the Wall

What are the duties of a POC?

  • Sign In at Mass thirty minutes before it starts.
  • Identify and locate the Emergency Assist Ministers scheduled for that mass.
  • If an emergency arises implement the protocols defined in the training.  This may include evacuating the Sanctuary in the prescribed manner.
  • The POC should plan to be close to the gathering space during Mass and stay in the gathering space during an emergency as the situation warrants.

Why is this needed?

Even though our priests are trained for emergency situations, during Mass it is difficult to communicate with the priest without stopping Mass.  We need a person to whom all emergent situations are addressed. We call this person a POC (point of contact).

How many POC's will there be?

For each weekend Mass we plan to have one POC assigned.  We hope to have enough POC ministers trained so that we can effect a monthly rotation.  We have four Masses each weekend this means we need sixteen to twenty ministers trained, at a minimum.

Do we have enough volunteers?

We do need additional volunteers and expect to continuously need to add to the ministry.  If someone is trained to be a POC but they are not scheduled when an emergency happens that person would be of great assistance to the POC on call.

If you wish to be considered for a POC or other role please contact Dan Bacon

Bacon.dan324@gmail.com

Does the POC act alone?

No, the POC will enlist the aid of other volunteers from within the congregation.  Ideally, these volunteers would be identified ahead of time and their task would be explained to them.  There may be times when volunteers are needed to be found while the event is taking place.

What kind of training does the POC receive?

The POC will be trained to implement a detailed plan that has been developed using the most up to date Emergency Management Techniques specifically tailored for our worship space and sheltering environment.

If our worship space needs to be evacuated,  the POC will utilize 10-12 other volunteers to safely and effectively move worshipers to a safe place.

AED Bag

Ways You Can Help

If a sanctuary evacuation is needed other volunteers that are needed are:

  • Section Leaders - For purposes of evacuation, we have divided our sanctuary into eight sections.  The people in each section need to be directed to their assigned egress point.  The sections leaders will assist with this.
  • Destination Leaders - On the way to "safe zones" the destination leaders help with the traffic flow and direct congregants to the proper zone of safety.  In case of a fire the safe zones are outside of the building.  For tornados, we need to shelter within our building.

We recognize that everyone has different gifts. If you don't feel you are cut out to be a  POC but that you could help as a Section or Destination Leader, we would like to hear from you also.

Order of Christian Initiation for Adults

Order of Christian Initiation for Adults

Christian Initiation of Adults is a process by which individuals who have reached the age of reason (usually age seven years or older) prepare to receive Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist, in the Roman Catholic tradition. Christian Initiation is for the unbaptized, individuals from another Christian tradition, or for Catholics who have not received the sacraments of Confirmation and/or Eucharist.

During the process we explore the Catholic tradition, provide opportunities for spiritual growth, engage participants in the community life of the parish, and help those seeking to enter the church to form a relationship with a sponsor.  Your journey may begin at any time; Christian Initiation is an ongoing, year-round program of inquiry and catechesis, with Confirmation throughout the year and Baptism at the Easter Vigil. Catechetical sessions are at St. James, with baby-sitting available for participants.

Health and Safety Ministries

Health and Safety Ministries

The safety of our parishioners, especially during Mass is of the utmost importance to all of the staff and volunteers at St. James.  We have created two ministries to help us achieve these ends:

Chris Fullinwider

Chris Fullinwider

Chris Fullinwider Headshot

Chris Fullinwider was born and raised in Philadelphia. She and her husband, Dean, have been married since 1993 and have two young adult children. They moved from St. Therese parish to St. James in 2012. Dean is the founding partner of a Liberty accounting firm and serves on the St. James Finance Committee. Chris is a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and works part time at Northland OB/GYN. She is excited to meet other parishioners and be more deeply involved in the parish.

To contact Chris Fullinwider: call/text 816-786-7150 or email kcphillygirl@gmail.com

Jeff Ridder

Jeff Ridder

Jeff Ridder Headshot

Jeff Ridder and his family have been parishioners at St James since 2013. He and his wife Karen have four children: John Paul, Joe, James, and Jessica.

Jeff grew up in Wichita, Kansas where he attended St. Joseph Grade School and Bishop Carroll High School. It is here that he first learned the Faith as a daily altar server at St. Joseph Parish. He graduated from Wichita State University with a BA in History. Jeff served in the U.S. Navy, retiring in 2014 after 23 years of service and now works for the Federal Aviation Administration as an electronics technician, doing work on the next-gen control systems for air traffic control and runway operations.

At St. James, Jeff sings in the parish choir, has taught religious education classes and volunteers regularly with the Scouting Organization Troop 374. In his spare time, he works on his old house, dreams of fixing up his old truck and is building a cabin on the family’s small piece of land in North Missouri.

To contact Jeff Ridder: call/text 816-379-1723 or email at jpridder88@hotmail.com

Joan Peluso

Joan Peluso

Joan Peluso headshot

Joan was born and raised in the Philadelphia, PA area. She married her husband, Michael, in 1976 and together they have three amazing sons. In 2000, her husband and youngest son moved to the Liberty area and joined St. James Church.

Their two oldest sons and their families live in Michigan. Joan has 5 beautiful grandchildren and enjoys spending time with each of them. In 2017 Joan retired from teaching elementary school after 42 years. She volunteers at Louis and Clark Elementary School and our St James Catholic School. She is a member of the St. James Bell Choir and the Altar Society. Her favorite pastimes include gardening, sewing, making cards, reading, traveling, and tutoring elementary students. She says it’s a great honor to be part of the Pastoral Council.

To contact Joan Peluso call 816-695-7438;

jbvpeluso@gmail.com

Eddie Baker

Eddie Baker

Eddie Baker Headshot

Eddie and his wife Lisa have been parishioners here at St. James since 1996. They have 3 grown children
and 1 finishing High School at Liberty.

He is a cantor and a member of the Knights of Columbus. Lisa has been assisting with Summer Bible
School and the Blood Drives for years.

Outside St. James Eddie has been active in Liberty High School Athletics Boosters and Fine Arts Boosters
when not at work for the KCFD. He is honored to have the opportunity to help our parish by serving on
the Pastoral Council.

To contact Eddie Baker call 816-694-3083;

jbaker105@kc.rr.com

Sherri Porterfield

Sherri Porterfield

Headshot of Jeff Ridder

Originally from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Sherri considers her St. James family to be one of God’s greatest blessings for her life. For 36 years, she taught choral music to middle school and high school students, taught teachers in workshops and directed honor choirs throughout the United States before retiring in 2016.

Since becoming a member of St. James in 2016, she has been involved in the music ministry, playing the piano for Mass and special occasions when needed. She has also served as a member of the Faith Formation ministry and is a member of the Respect Life Ministry. She has facilitated numerous women’s Bible studies, including serving with the Walking with Purpose ministry.

Sherri is very honored to be chosen to become a member of the Pastoral Council. She is passionate about helping everyone to experience the joy of God through the study of His Word and a deeper knowledge of our Catholic Faith and by helping our community to grow through service to others. She looks forward to using the gifts that God has given her to assist Fr. Mike and our church family.