Annulment and Dissolution in the Episcopal Church...

From Constitution and Canons Title I.19.2a:

Any member of this Church whose marriage has been annulled or dissolved by a civil court may apply to the Bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese in which such person is legally or canonically resident for a judgment as to his or her marital status in the eyes of the Church. Such judgment may be a recognition of the nullity, or of the termination of the said marriage; Provided, that no such judgment shall be construed as affecting in any way the legitimacy of children or the civil validity of the former relationship.

This is the only mention of annulments of marriage in the Canons of the Episcopal Church. The reason is that in the 1970s, rather than face the rather daunting question of the Indissolubility of Marriage, the Episcopal Church simply made annulments and dispensations to remarriage canonically of equal status. Further, the Episcopal Church made the civil authority the highest authority over marriage. It suffices to say that annulment and dissolution are made to be theologically, as well as legally, the same thing. When a church attempts to make them the same, and allow civil authorities to dictate the status of a marriage (either by divorce or civil annulment), a great deal of clarity is lost. No longer can the church answer the question "what is marriage?" For an answer to that question, the laity (and clergy, for that matter) must look to the state. Case in point are recent disputes in the Church of England regarding civil partnerships. The Church, in this case, was forced to defer to the civil authority because it was confounded on the question of marriage.

The question at hand is twofold. First is the question