Let my prophet retire: This week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly announced that President Thomas S. Monson, the prophet since 2008, is “no longer attending meetings at the Church offices on a regular basis.”

I’m still hazy on what exactly this means. Has Monson unofficially retired from his position, leaving the administration of the ministry to his other Brethren? In his Oct. 2014 General Conference talk, Russell M. Nelson reminded church members that when the president is disabled from poor health, his two counselors step in.

The church has long acknowledged that President Monson has for several years been “feeling the effects of advancing age,” and it is known that among those effects are diabetes and dementia.

As someone who has grown up loving this prophet and listening to his sermons and stories, I am sad to see him in ill health. Along with many other church members, I wish him well.

But I also have another wish (and, considering the limited authority I possess as Primary music leader, all I can really do is wish) that one day, the church will end its current practice requiring life service for senior leadership.

The tradition of disallowing retirement has no basis in scripture or doctrine, and to me, it’s misguided — even cruel.

I appreciate that the church is led by older, experienced leaders, but that wouldn’t change if retirement became optional. When Gordon B. Hinckley, Monson’s predecessor, approached the end of his life, his vigor and ability to serve was extraordinary. But that’s not the norm, and Monson is not the first LDS prophet to be significantly inhibited by illness and aging.

As Mormons, we might look to the road paved for us by the 2013 resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, who told Italian journalist Elio Guerriero last year that he felt it was his “duty” to resign, given his personal health and the demands of papal work.

It’s hard not to see the revitalization the Roman Catholic Church has enjoyed since Pope Francis was allowed to step up. Meanwhile, I worry that the current power structure in my own church may present certain challenges. Could that structure have contributed to its confusing and contradictory roll-out of a 2015 church policy concerning same-sex couples and their children?

The tradition is sometimes explained with “When God decides his time is up, he will take him home.” But an administrative policy based on the assumption that God will kill people is cruel.

The prophet’s health details shouldn’t even be our business. But as long as he is still in charge of church policy, they are. So let prophets retire, giving them the dignity of privacy and the church the continuity it needs.

– Derrick Clements