On Church development

It's interesting to consider how the Church developed a lot of the key teachings many of which are compulsory for Catholics. Immaculate conception of Mary, the real presence in the Eucharist....

The Catholic church procedes...

"God –> Christ –> Peter+Apostles –> Pope+Bishop 

Others procede...

God –> Christ –> Apostles –> every Christian writer from late antiquity through to the middle ages.

Therefore, the continuity-of-doctrine is not to be looked for, first and foremost, in the scattered commentaries of individual Christians. Rather, the continuity-of-doctrine should be found in the teaching exercises of the Teaching Office of the Pope+Bishops. The “Magisterium” just means “Teaching Office”" ...Ybarra

All Protestants churches are in schism with the Catholics. Somewhere along the line they have disagreed with a core teaching. Often this results from a picking and choosing of the sayings of the fathers. The fathers were often trying to work through difficult concepts (Trinity) and made claims for and against these in their lives. It's relatively easy to find comments that seem at variance with their final decision. 

Most importantly not everything will be found written. This is why non Catholics who use an archaeological approach, looking back, and trying to put together the pieces that have survived will often miss the target. The Catholic church is more like an old aunty that remembers the family history.   Once she is gone there is no more a witness but what she has said is remembered by her nephews. Looking back at the first few centuries we see practises but no longer have the written explanations. We have to assume these explanations exist.

The Old Testament was probably put together in a similar way. Parts were probably handed down by word of mouth for centuries until someone wrote them down.