The Church is Authoritative

Matthew 18:18 - Jesus gives to the Apostles the power to legislate
Matthew 18:17 - Jesus gives to the Apostles the power to discipline
Matthew 28:18-20 - Jesus delegates all power to Apostles
Luke 10:16 - Jesus gives to the Apostles the power to speak with Christ's voice
John 20:23 - Jesus gives to the Apostles the power to forgive sins
1 Corinthians 11:24 - Jesus gives to the Apostles the power to offer sacrifice (the Eucharist)
St. Irenaeus (200AD) "... the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although she is disseminated throughout the whole world, yet guarded it, as if she occupied but one house. She likewise believes these things just as if she one soul and one and the same heart; and harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them down, as if she possessed but one mouth." (Against Heresies 1, 10, 2)
Eusibius of Caesarea (4th Century) "But the brightness of the Catholic Church proceeded to increase in greatness, for it ever held to the same points in the same way, and radiated forth to all the race of Greeks and barbarians the reverent, sincere, and free nature and the sobriety and purity of the divine teaching as to conduct and thought." (Ecclesiastical History 4, 7,13)
St. Augustine of Hippo (392AD) "The Catholic Church is the work of Divine Providence, achieved through the prophecies of the prophets, through the Incarnation and the teaching of Christ, through the journeys of the Apostles, through the suffering, the crosses, the blood and death of the martyrs, through the admirable lives of the saints... When, then, we see so much help on God's part, so much progress and so much fruit, shall we hesitate to bury ourselves in the bosom of that Church? For starting from the apostolic chair down through successions of bishops, even unto the open confession of all mankind, it has possessed the crown of teaching authority." (The Advantage of Believing 35)