News Service from House Harris

US: Mel Gibson on a wing and a prayer

LOS ANGELES, April 24 AAP - Mel Gibson has surprised a conference of US Catholic bishops by flying on a private jet to America's heartland and asking them to pray for him.

The Hollywood star, linked to a sexy Russian songstress and expected to lose half of his estimated $A1 billion fortune to soon-to-be ex-wife Robyn, shocked members of the Eastern Catholic Church Bishop Conference when he arrived in St Louis on Wednesday to meet them.

The bishops were given little warning about his visit.

"I was more than surprised. I was flabbergasted," Bishop Robert Shaheen of the Maronite Church told St Louis TV station KPLR.

The New York-born, Australian-raised Oscar winner did not ask the bishops for their support as he enters divorce proceedings with his wife of 28 years, but he did tell them he was "going through a bad time in my life".

Gibson was interested in talking to the bishops about the Maronite's tradition of using the language of Jesus, Aramaic, during mass.

His 2004 blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ, used the Aramaic language.

"He didn't ask us of anything," Bishop Shaheen said.

"He didn't ask us to endorse him.

"He never said anything about his personal life except 'keep me in your prayers; I'm going through a bad time in my life'."

The meeting was a pleasant one and Gibson and 12 bishops spent Wednesday night at St Louis Italian restaurant Bartolino's Osteria where they feasted on traditional St Louis style toasted ravioli and other Italian dishes.

Gibson signed a menu for restaurant owner Bart Saracino and at the end of the night one of the actor's assistants paid the entire bill.

Gibson's divorce and his controversial past, including a drunken anti-Semitic tirade against a Malibu sheriff in 2006, did not deter the bishops from meeting and dining with him.

"I don't think Jesus ever had a problem sitting down with people for dinner," Bishop Shaheen said.

"Certainly I'm not going to tell him 'no' if he asks me."

Gibson and the bishops also met for breakfast on Thursday morning before he departed the city on his jet.

Robyn, a former Adelaide dental nurse who has seven children with Gibson, filed for divorce earlier this month. Court records revealed the couple has lived apart the past three years.

Gibson has been romantically linked to Oksana Grigorieva, a 39-year-old singer signed to Gibson's record label, icon.

Grigorieva had a child with one-time partner Welsh actor and former James Bond, Timothy Dalton.