I embraced the doctrine of Exclusive Salvation the moment I read the following in Denzinger:
“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jєωs and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)
Later that year (1993) I was at a summer camp run by some Franciscans, and we older boys would attend a presentation by the priest each evening. During one of these events, the priest warned us about "Fr. Feeney", stating that there actually
was salvation outside the Church. Not knowing any better, I was confused and accepted the priest's word for it.
At the end of the camp, the Franciscans brought in a Protestant minister for us to "debate". During the course of the debate, in response to something I said (which I don't recall anymore, unfortunately), the prot asked me directly: "So, you're saying that unless a person becomes a Catholic, he can't get to heaven?"
Stunned and dumbfounded by what he said and it's implications, and remembering what I heard just a few nights before, I stammered.... "Not necessarily."
At that moment, I realized how utterly POINTLESS it was to try to convert people if they can be saved outside the Church. What a ridiculous exercise this "debating" business was. This was an epiphany for me.
Either truth matters or it doesn't.
When Christ was before Pontius Pilate, He declared "For this was I born, for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My Voice." From His Own Mouth, Christ declared that the reason the incarnation took place was so that He could bear witness to the truth by shedding every drop of His Precious Blood. IF a man can be saved without accepting the truths that Christ revealed, THEN Jesus' life, passion and death was a stupid, useless gesture.
Doctrine matters. Truth Matters. And it's ironic that those of who propose salvation to NON-BELIEVERS, and then bang us "Feeneyites" over the head because we "don't accept Church teaching(?)" on this or that, are the biggest hypocrites on earth.