Ways the Church Could Separate Hierarchy from Priesthood

I hope for a day when the Church’s operations are separated from the Priesthood. I was thinking a bit this week about what steps the church could take towards that. Here are some of my thoughts… I would like to hear yours:

– Get past the idea that a priesthood holder has to conduct meetings. The Bishop presides in Sacrament Meeting, but why can’t there be a non-bishopric member, man or woman, called to conduct SM, including asking people to speak, determining topics, coordinating baby blessings? The bishop could stand at the pulpit to handle ward sustainings, the same way that a traveling High Counselor does for stake callings.

– Some callings don’t require priesthood, so fill them with either men or women. For example, the Ward Clerk has to have the priesthood? Sunday School President? What about the Ward Mission Leader?

– With the new influx of Sister Missionaries, the Church could put them in positions of leadership, such as district leaders and zone leaders. I understand why they can’t be assistants to the president, as long as the president is a man. The tricky thing about ZLs is that they have responsibility to interview baptismal candidates… I even had to do that as a DL in some remote corners. But that could be handled simply by having designated priesthood-holding missionaries available. In fact, this one really is the larger problem, in microcosm. Having the priesthood is supposed to be mean the authority to perform church ordinances (baptismal interview would qualify in my mind), but the church stretches it to mean leading any organizations except those where the priesthood is clearly not involved (relief society, young women’s, primary). Sister missionaries can lead the missionaries in their zone or district, just as well as Elders.