Lawyers appealing former archbishop of Adelaide Phillip Wilson's conviction for covering up child abuse have argued that convincing a child to perform a sex act did not constitute indecent assault in the 1970s.

Wilson was convicted in May of concealing the indecent assault of a boy by paedophile priest Jim Fletcher in the Hunter region of NSW.

The court found that in 1976 the victim confided in Wilson that he had been sexually abused, yet Wilson failed to report it to police when Fletcher was charged with other child sex offences in 2004.

Wilson is currently serving a minimum sentence of six months' home detention, but is persisting with an appeal of his conviction.