Archbishop Prendergast was born on February 19, 1944, in Montréal. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Fordham University in New York, followed by a Master of Divinity, a Licentiate in Theology and later a Doctorate in Sacred Scripture from Regis College, the Jesuit Faculty of Theology of the University of Toronto. He entered the Jesuit Novitiate in 1961, was ordained Priest on June 10, 1972, and Bishop on April 25, 1995.