Father Mark Rutherford grew up with four brothers in a Catholic family in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Active in sports, he played hockey, wrestled, and boxed. When he was thirteen years old, he began discerning a vocation to the priesthood while attending a Franciscan University of Steubenville Youth Conference in 1997. He attended Catholic and public schools, and even homeschooled. He attended Ave Maria College from 2001-2005 in Michigan before it was moved to Florida. He majored in both Theology and Philosophy with a minor in classical languages. He was a member of the Pre-Theologate program, which assisted men discerning priesthood. After graduating, the Bishop of Lansing accepted him as a seminarian and attended Sacred Heart Major Seminary from 2005-2009, earning a Masters in Divinity and the S.T.B. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Lansing by Bishop Earl Boyea on June 13th, 2009, the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua.