In the late 1950s a voluntary group of knowledgeable and dedicated professionals sought approval from the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Brisbane to form a Catholic Marriage advisory Council. The request came in response to a perceived need for marriage counselling in the archciocese.

Over the ensuing years new services in family and relationship support, disability, child care, employment, pastoral care and community support have been added to Centacare Brisbane's burgeoning work. Now more than 50 years later Centacare continues to tend the needs of a society that is complex and changing.