[Desdemona]

But, I also wouldn't witness a marriage between two people who were under 22 either. A couple younger is simply not capable of making that kind of commitment.

You can't make a blanket statement like this. In my family, one of the strongest marriages - and the one that has gone through one hellish situation after another - was one which was shotgun and both were 20 when they got married. That was over two decades ago.

As for being mature at 18, some men are. Not all, but some. Evaluation, of course, would be in order, but raised well, by the right parents, there are 18-year olds perfectly capable of making such decisions.

[sinkspur]

You can't make a blanket statement like this.

Sure I can. Statistically, divorce is much higher among those who marry under the age of 25. That doesn't mean that an occasional teenage marriage doesn't succeed.

Anyway, "shotgun" marriages are specifically forbidden in most dioceses today because they aren't considered free of encumbrances and are ripe for an almost automatic annulment.