“What I find sad is that the Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong commitment, but then grants a ‘waiver’ of that for reasons other than adultery or abuse.”
It doesn’t. It declares that the commitment never happened if wasn’t given freely and fully, based on the Church’s understanding of those terms.
Adultery and abuse are indicators that the commitment might not have been made, but by themselves are not grounds for annulment at all.
I'm curious as to what evidence one must present in order to obtain an annulment. How does one prove they (or their spouse) were never really committed to begin with unless there are clear behaviors such as adultery or abuse?