Stratford was educated at St. Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford and then at the University of Huddersfield winning scholarships for voice, composition and organ from the RCO and other trusts.
Cardinal Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, suggested Lewis join the priesthood in 1960, but it was 1974 before Lewis was ordained at Arundel Cathedral.
St Paul's Cathedral | cathedral | Cathedral | Exeter Cathedral | Coventry Cathedral | Canterbury Cathedral | Lincoln Cathedral | Ely Cathedral | Winchester Cathedral | Southwark Cathedral | Salisbury Cathedral | Norwich Cathedral | St. Paul's Cathedral | Chichester Cathedral | Durham Cathedral | Liverpool Cathedral | Cologne Cathedral | Chester Cathedral | Worcester Cathedral | Westminster Cathedral | Anne Arundel County | St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York | Manchester Cathedral | Gloucester Cathedral | Earl of Arundel | Crystal Cathedral | Arundel | St Peter's Cathedral | St. Vitus Cathedral | Ripon Cathedral |
He was ordained a priest at Arundel on Easter Sunday 1973 and was Assistant Curate at Arundel Cathedral and Chantry Priest to the Duke of Norfolk from 1973 to 1979.