Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, sounded an all-too familiar note in a June 19 commentary when he referred to the sense of “powerlessness and delay” in resolving the worst oil spill in history.

It’s what many of us have been feeling about the mess in the Gulf for more weeks than it’s good to think about.

In the commentary, he called the wretched experience a “lesson in the limits of technology” and compared it to the 1984 chemical factory explosion in Bhopal, India and the 1986 meltdown of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Not a pretty picture for those of us old enough to remember the hideous pictures that flooded the newspapers for months after those terrible disasters. Frightful follow up photos of the human beings, animals and landscapes scarred by those catastrophic “mistakes” in technological judgment turn up now and again even to this day.

Imagine what the 24-hour news television news cycle would have made of such pathetic images.

Father Lombardi called it “striking” that the current situation, fueled by one of the “largest and most technologically advanced oil multinationals in the world,” is unfolding in the most “powerful country on earth.”

“It seems incredible, but it is a fact,” he wrote. “This is not the eruption of a volcano but a relatively small, man-made hole in the seabed. Yet, in two months, expert scientists and technicians, leaders in their field have failed to plug it.”

His words failed to make the cut in many secular newspapers. That being the case, it seemed a good idea to call attention to them here.

After all, the Trenton Diocese is home to an Atlantic coastline that runs from the tip of Sandy Hook to the toe of Long Beach Island. It’s rich in resources that are already contributing mightily to the New Jersey tourism industry which, in 2007, generated $38 billion in revenues overall and kept 466,000 workers employed.

In figures provided by the office of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez who opposes offshore drilling, the NJ fishing industry – while not as encompassing as the gulf’s – still accounts for several billion dollars from fisheries, aquaculture and recreational use each year. New Jersey’s commercial ports rank fourth in the nation in the value of their catch.

Post spill, I ruefully admit that like many people concerned about the economy, even in my most environmental state of mind, I was willing to hear out advocates of offshore drilling.

Now seems the perfect time for a mea culpa on that position.

With great sorrow, I realize, along with Father Lombardi, that technologically speaking, we aren’t anywhere near where we can afford a sequel to the monster that is destroying the environmental bounty of the Gulf.

For that reason, and out of sheer frustration with the situation in the Gulf, I’ll be one among thousands participating in a nationwide, 15-minute beachfront demonstration June 26 at noon calling for an end to offshore drilling.

The participating beaches in our area are those at Asbury Park and Seaside Heights. Further to our south, Atlantic City is also participating. The event is being sponsored by Clean Ocean Action, Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club.

Sierra Club’s Grace Sica, a Seaside Park resident and graduate of St. Benedict School, Holmdel, and St. John Vianney High School, Holmdel, will be standing in the sand in Seaside Park.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the response so far and we are expecting a good turnout,” Sica said. “If anything, people are really frustrated with this environmental devastation and this gives them an outlet.”

Patterned after a similar stand in Florida in February, organizers are expending thousands of people on 30 beaches around the state altogether, Sica said. She noted that Asbury Park and Seaside Heights are giving free beach access to those participating in the event.

You can find more information on the event at www.handsacrossthesand.org