Annulment Under the Canons of The Episcopal Church

             The Episcopal Church, while briefly viewing the annulment model of the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Church in Rome, does not presently have any similar system in use. In the annulment model, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Church in Rome extended the principle of annulment within the Church as a device to avoid the categorical disapproval of remarriage after divorce or dissolution. Those churches permit remarriage after annulment. This annulment model uses a very broad definitional base for what constitutes sufficient grounds for annulment, thereby permitting the remarriage of individuals who received a civil court divorce, but a church annulment. The current Episcopal Church Canons do not differentiate between annulment or dissolution of marriage. Either may be the basis for permitting the remarriage of members of the Church, subject to approval by the diocesan bishop. The technical differences between annulment and dissolution are deferred to the civil courts by Canon I.19.3(a) which states: “The Member of the Clergy shall be satisfied by appropriate evidence that the prior marriage has been annulled or dissolved by a final judgment or decree of a civil court of competent jurisdiction.”  While the Convention of 1937 did receive a report from a joint commission that identified the annulment model as one of the options available for consideration in amending the then current canon concerning remarriage, neither House at the 1937 Convention ever actually considered the annulment model, and it was not discussed thereafter.