By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Saturday, September 20, 2008 12:00 am
Two women who are walking across Oregon to speak out against child sexual abuse made a stop in Corvallis on Thursday. The women hope that by engaging in public discussions, they will encourage others to do the same.
During a stop at the Red Horse Coffee Co. downtown, Virginia Jones said she was sexually assaulted by two teenage boys when she was 4 years old. Her mother, an alcoholic, was rarely around. When she told her mother what happened, her mother ignored her.
Jones put the trauma aside until she was in her 40s, when she became a member of the Catholic Church. Within a year of her conversion, the clergy sex-abuse scandal broke. In the course of hearing about that scandal, Jones realized she needed to come to terms with what had happened to her.
"Survivors are often met with disbelief and a lack of support," Jones said. They need to be told that they are strong, and brave and didn't do anything to deserve their abuse.
Jones is co-founder of Compassionate Gathering, a program that she introduced in her own diocese to address issues of clergy sex abuse, which eventually broadened to include dialogue with a variety of adults who were victims of abuse from family members and others.
"My organization provides individual support and community support through talking circles," she said. "It's uplifting for everyone involved. Survivors don't have to be alone."
Throughout the Walk Across Oregon trip, people have come up to share their own stories, some of whom may have never told anyone else about their trauma.
"You can see it in their eyes," Jones said.
Jones is only able to walk part of the way through the state because she has to care for young children. But another woman, who will give her name only as June out of fear of repercussions for family members, is walking the entire length of the state. She began her trip in Ashland on Sept. 1 and expects to end it Portland on Sept. 29.
The women hope to not only raise awareness throughout the state, but are also hopeful that a bill will be introduced to the Oregon Legislature in the next year that would eliminate the statute of limitations on prosecuting childhood sexual assaults. June is working with state Rep. Andy Olson, R-Albany, on the bill.
For more information, see www.wintreswishes.org or www. compassionategathering.org.