In 1925, following the founding of the Society of the Holy Cross by the Rt Revd Mark Trollope, the third Bishop in Korea, she was appointed Mother Superior of the order.
[3] Her father, Richard Laurence Whitty, a qualified medical doctor and land agent, was born in 1844 in Rathvilly, County Carlow, to a clerical family.
[2] In 1912, Whitty joined the Anglican Community of St Peter, then based in Kilburn, London and took her vows as a sister in 1915, taking the name, Mary Clare.
[3] In 1925 in Seoul, with the help of Trollope, Sister Mary Clare founded the Society of the Holy Cross and was appointed novice mistress, later becoming the first mother superior of the order.
[2] During the Korean War, Whitty refused the opportunity from the British embassy to evacuate from Seoul, instead opting to stay with her congregation.