AH HA!!! Now you've caught my evil and sinister plot with our Catholic friends. In actuality, as you so rightfully point out, the early fathers were not unified in all things. Some of them also held some pretty strange ideas. They were, however, unified on basic principles which they formed councils to sort out.
Personally, I don't mind saying that I follow the teachings of the fathers. As a Protestant I'm free to pick and choose what I want to believe from their writings. Their writings are not inspired. It does not measure up to the scriptures. It is no different than if I picked up a concordance to use as reference material. If something doesn't make sense from a scriptural point of view, then I don't have to accept it. The scriptures are the baseline for all truth. But the writings are like going to Sunday School and listening to what others might say.
Our Catholic friends enjoy telling us how they follow the teachings of the church fathers. In actuality they don't simply because their writings are diverse. They pick and choose the ones they want to recite and ignore the rest. Over time, they have modified the teachings the doctrine of the fathers to such an extent that the best they can offer are quotes from the 15th century. Ask them about atonement, justification, etc., and they don't follow what is written by the early fathers. Catholics have a problem in what the Church now believes and what was the early teachings, which often contradicts. Their reasoning for this deviation-knowledge has evolved.
Thanks for the clarification. And you are correct that to some degree it is pick and choose, while the real basis for RCs assurance is not CFs or Scripture, etc, as such are open to some degree of fallible interpretation by them, rather it is the presumed perpetual infallibility of Rome, which they seek to persuade us to trust in by referencing CFs etc.
Too tired to post more. Have a God night.
RESPONSE: Yes I agree. Further, both our Catholic friends and some Protestants forget that even a layman who prayerfully and with faith seeks guidance in interpretation of scripture will eventually personally receive such guidance from the Lord himself-as promised. In this limited sense everyman is a priest. In addition, the faithful in talking among themselves can arrive at a valid reliable interpretation of scriptural points. The Christians must have patience as they discuss scriptural interpretation among themselves. Lastly, there are canons of interpretation to help guide the layman.