Providentialism has at least a couple of different ways that it can be defined—the term is used a lot in the circles that I run in. I like the term, my wife hates it, but in practice we have concluded that “ecological breast feeding” or the like is what Humanae Vitae is referring to in section 11 (the only other thing I can think of would be that you can’t actually get preagnant while preagnant). Someone who doesn’t breastfeed the natural way for trivial reasons is mucking with God’s plan as much as someone deliberately avoiding fertile periods for trivial reasons—if one wants to cooperate with Providence in procreating, one needs to see both sides of this coin.
While we chart and do practice a fair bit of abstinence, I don’t think we have had more than about ten fertile cycles in nearly ten years of marriage—and maybe as few as five or six (my wife is presently down with morning sickness with number five). God’s providence and our readiness have coincided.
I certainly can’t imagine homeschooling and having a baby every 12-15 months, which is where Providentialism with bottlefeeding or schedule feeding and early weaning leads. JP II has a nice quote somewhere (my wife has it at her fingertips—but she is asleep right now) about breastfeeding until at least the third year. Most “providentialists” that we know schedule feed and are supplementing at 2-5 months and are preagnant again shortly thereafter.
If people want providentialism, they should demand feed—God, in His providence, manifested through junior, wants me to be awake at 2:00 in the morning (actually—God wants us to co-sleep—it really isn’t that bad until baby somehow figures out a way of making it so that only he can find room to sleep in a Queen size bed).
Time to pack our three year old off to her own be and out of my spot.—Nice article.
I concur with your observations of those who are ideologically “quiverfull” or Providentialist, as opposed to couples who are largely letting nature take its course in determining their family size. (See my new baby pictures on my profile!)
They often impose a regimentation on themselves that results in very frequent births, which is physically draining and psychologically challenging. Some even deliberately reject natural breastfeeding because it might give the impression (like God is standing by looking to clobber them) that they’d like to space their children a little more widely. The ladies often seem very unhappy.