Former Archbishop Nienstedt's never-revealed secret

By: Tom Lyden, May 5, 2016, Fox 9

(KMSP) - When John Nienstedt resigned as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis last June, he left the Archdiocese in bankruptcy and under a criminal investigation that continues to this day. The criminal investigation stems from the cover-up of sexual abuse in the church. But of all the secrets Nienstedt is accused of keeping, there is one that has never been revealed: the secret in his own family.

More than 40 years ago,  as a young priest, John Nienstedt, knew of an allegation involving one of his best friends and it was Nienstedt who introduced him to his victim.  

Mike Hinske is from a family of devout Catholics living in Michigan. His mother, a former Dominican nun, is John Nienstedt’s cousin.

"Oh my God he was the Pope,” Hinske said of Nienstedt.  “[My parents] looked up to him like there was no tomorrow."

In 1974, Nienstedt had just been ordained as a priest at a nearby parish outside Detroit and became  . . .

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