A native of Miami, Florida, Fr. Lewis entered the New Orleans Province on August 14, 1980, at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, after receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in history and philosophy at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. He went on to receive a Master’s Degree in philosophy at Saint Louis University in 1984, an MDiv at Regis College, Toronto, in 1990, and a PhD in history at the University of Toronto in 1995. Fr. Lewis was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on June 8, 1991, at Spring Hill College.

During his regency period as a young Jesuit, Fr. Lewis taught at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida, from 1984-87. In 1996, after completion of his academic studies, Fr. Lewis was assigned to the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome where he served from 1996-98 as a writer of church history. In 1998, he became the director of the Institute, a post he held until 2004. From 2004-05, while on sabbatical, Fr. Lewis acted as interim director of the Institute of Catholic Studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2005, he was assigned to his Alma Mater, Spring Hill College, as Associate Professor of History; he also served as Assistant to the President of the College with special concern for Mission and Identity.

Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, named Fr. Lewis as Provincial of the New Orleans Province on July 31, 2008, the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola.