She wants to see a strong showing of support for the altar's retention at a public meeting starting at 6pm today at the North Otago Club.
While she had "absolutely no way" of knowing how many would attend, "a lot" of people had told her they could not get to the chapel for a gathering organised on Monday but they would attend the meeting.
An interim enforcement order issued by the Environment Court meant work could not start as planned on Monday to remove the altar and transfer it to Holy Name Church in Dunedin. Resource consent must now be obtained from the Waitaki District Council.
From tonight's meeting, which will be chaired by Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton, Ms Brown hoped for a "show of strength" to show there was sufficient public interest to pursue the matter, and to come up with an appropriate solution.
Contact details would be taken from those attending, to develop a database of those interested in the issue.
"At this point, we don't know quite what will be required of people other than to show their interest and support."
It had been suggested that a Facebook site be set up so people could keep track of what was happening.
Both Fr Mark Chamberlain, from Holy Name Parish, and Sr Elizabeth Mackie, from the Dominican Sisters, had been invited to attend. They had thanked Ms Brown for the invitation but both had declined.
Ms Brown said it needed to be ensured that the Waitaki District Council "gets the very clear message" any application for resource consent must be notified so as many people as possible could make submissions and speak to them.
