What did the Church fathers have to say about it?
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
(this is a really long text and I can't type it all, but I do encourage you to read it. Here are just some chunks of it)
Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth from others that is easy to obtain from the Church, since the apostles, like a rich man in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man who will can draw from her water of life.
Suppose there arises a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear regarding the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the course of the Tradition that they had handed down to those whom they committed the churches? (Against Heresies, A.D. 189)
St. Clement of Alexandria
They preserving the Tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy apostles, Peter James John, and Paul, the sons receiving it from the father (but few were like the fathers), came by God's will to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds. And well I know that they will exult; I do not mean delighted with this tribute, bu ton account of the preservation of the truth, according as they delivered it. For such a sketch as this, will, I think, be agreeable to a soul desirous of preserving the blessed Tradition (Miscellanies, A.D. 207)
St. Basil of Caesarea
Of the beliefs and practices that are preserved in the Church, whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined, some we possess derive from written teaching; others we have received "in a mystery" by the Tradition of the apostles; and both of these have the same force in relation to true religion. (The Holy Spirit A.D. 375)
St. Epiphanius of Salamis
It is needful also to make use of Tradition, for not everything can be gotten from sacred Scripture. The holy apostles handed down some things in the Scriptures, other things in Tradition. (Against all Heresies A.D. 375)
St. Augustine of Hippo
We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is catholic and which is called Catholic not only by her own members by even by all her enemies.
(The True Religion A.D. 390)
We believe also in the holy Church, assuredly the Catholic. For both heretics and schismatics style their congregations churches. But heretics, in holding false opinions regarding God, do injury to the faith itself; while schismatics, on the other hand, in wicked separations break off from brotherly charity, although they may believe just what we believe.
(Faith and the Creed A.D. 393)
If you should find some one who does not yet believe in teh gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, "I do not believe"? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so. (Against the Letter of Mani Called "The Foundation" A.D. 397)
Wow. My hands hurt. And that barely scratches the surface of what the Church fathers have to say on the matter. My source is Jimmy Akin's book, The Father's Know Best. I encourage you to pick up a copy if you want to learn more.
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