Peter Gogarty is angry a NSW magistrate has allowed former Adelaide archbishop Philip Wilson to serve a 12-month custodial sentence at a home near Newcastle, rather than in a jail.

"I hope he enjoys having a holiday in his sister's house," Mr Gogarty told reporters outside Newcastle Local Court on Tuesday.

Mr Gogarty, a victim of the pedophile priest whose abuse Wilson concealed, was not the only one disappointed about the case.

Wilson is preparing to appeal his conviction, lawyer Ian Temby QC told Newcastle Local Court on Tuesday.

The 67-year-old clergyman didn't apply for bail after Magistrate Robert Stone decided home detention was suitable.

Mr Stone ordered Wilson serve at least six months' before being eligible for parole and said the detention would be under strict supervision with the priest forced to wear a tracking device.

Wilson, who resigned as Archbishop of Adelaide in July, showed no emotion when the decision to was handed down

Mr Stone found Wilson guilty in May during a landmark magistrate-only trial of failing to report to police the repeated abuse of two altar boys by Fletcher.

Fletcher was found guilty of child sexual abuse in 2004 and died in jail of a stroke in 2006.

Wilson refused to quit for two months following his conviction, saying he wanted to wait for the outcome of his appeal.

But under mounting pressure from child abuse victims and Catholic priests to resign, and calls from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the Pope to sack him, Wilson offered up his resignation as a ''catalyst to heal pain and distress''.

Mr Stone found Wilson had shown no remorse or contrition for the cover-up and his primary motive had been to protect the Catholic Church.

The magistrate accepted Wilson was unlikely to re-offend but had to serve a period of detention to act as a deterrence to others.

He said home detention was an adequate punishment, given Wilson's age, mental and physical conditions and the fact he had previously been of good character.

Australian Associated Press