[animoveritas]

Sorry, but you are mistaken.

The catholic (NB lowercase "c") Church preceded the gospels. Therefore, the sacred truths and the practices and the dogma are foundational to the written word. This written word was provided to the Church already founded in the teachings and traditions of Christ.

[clearsight]

Yes, I agree that prior to the writings of the four gospels and Paul's letters to the local churches spiritual truth (dogma if you will), practices existed within the immediate group (some new by Jesus and much on the Jewish revelation by God in the O.T.) who followed Jesus and beyond and even if they had never been written down by the apostles and Paul they "spiritual truth and dogma" would have been passed down even to us through some oral tradition. John writes that there would not be enough room in all the books in the world to contain all the works (and I would add, even revealed truth) that Jesus did (and taught), but these are written down that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God."
The "catholic church" is one thing, but "The Catholic Church" is another. The "catholic church" is an evangelistic church. The "Catholic Church" has circled the wagons and obfuscated/hidden as in a camouflage mural the pure message of "The Lord Jesus" amidst a very large heap of ritual,doctrines of men, exorbitant symbolism from spurious pagan influences. I apologize if this offends you, but the Good News of Jesus must be presented simply and without all the added human trappings.